A man whose teenage son died while waiting for an ambulance is urging the HSE to rethink emergency response times.
David Byrne, who lost 19-year-old Conor after he fell ill at home in Co Louth in 2014, said painful memories were stirred by the tragic death of a woman in the North in similar circumstances this month.
Jody Keenan, 39, died on April 10, while waiting for an ambulance after collapsing in Newry, Co Down.
The HSE last night told the Irish Mirror that the National Ambulance Service is “experiencing very high demand for 999 services”.
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Mr Byrne, 63, said: “The death in Newry brought back a lot of the pain. You never get over it.
“As a family, we spoke about what happened in Newry and about Conor. We don’t understand how this could’ve happened again.
“I was angry at the time of Conor’s death, but I feel now that the HSE’s inability has beaten us.
“No matter what you do to raise awareness, the authorities do not do what’s necessary to get enough ambulances on the road.
“They didn’t listen to us in 2014 and nothing has changed since.
“To try to change things, to get more ambulances, is a massive problem.
“I don’t think they want to spend the money. You have accountants running hospitals now.
“But someone, somewhere, just has to say it’s time to get the job done.
“Politicians like Gerry Adams came to our house and wanted to help us to improve things, but nothing got done.
“There has to be people out there who care enough.”
The National Ambulance Service crisis was discussed at a joint Oireachtas Health Committee last December.
It heard the NAS everyday deploys up to 180 emergency ambulances, an average of 22 rapid response vehicles, and more than 50 officer response vehicles from 100 locations.
The HSE yesterday confirmed that due to the NAS “currently experiencing very high demand for 999 services for patients with immediately life-threatening injuries and illnesses” this “unfortunately can mean some patients have longer wait times”.
Ambulance response times are prioritised by need, primarily for life-threatening cardiac or respiratory emergencies and life-threatening illnesses or injuries.
These emergencies are known as Echo and Delta calls and have target times of 18 minutes and 59 seconds or less. Tragic Conor, who was an
engineering student, collapsed into his dad’s arms on June 24, 2014, with an ambulance arriving 27 minutes after the 999 call.
But figures show that the average response times for category one Echo and Delta calls increased in some counties from 18 minutes in 2019 to 26 minutes in 2021 and in other counties from 21 minutes in 2019 to 28 minutes in 2021 over the same period.
Conor’s family campaigned for improved ambulance services for every county in Ireland and said in 2014: “We are highlighting this because we don’t want another family to suffer like us.”
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