REPORT STRESSED NEED FOR NATIONAL AIR AMBULANCE
By TOM GILLESPIE
Proposals for the establishment of a multi-million pound national Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) are to be put to the Government.
A detailed report maintains that a full-time dedicated emergency helicopter aid ambulance would save lives and reduce long term morbidity. The initial start-up cost would be in the region of £3.6m with annual running costs of £ 785,000. This the report suggests 75% funding could come from the EU with 25% State backing. The blueprint is to be presented to the Government later this month. The proposed service would cover the whole of Ireland and the off-shore islands. This is the only country in Europe without such a rapid reaction airborne service.
The report indicates the prime HEMS locations as Knock Airport, Cork Airport, Dublin Airport and Belfast Airport. The report has ben drawn up by a steering committee of doctors, aviation experts and business people chaired by Mulranny based GP and head of the Irish Medical Organisationís Rural Doctors Group. Dr. Jerry Cowley. The secretary of the group is Sean Noone from Belmullet and the treasurer is Mr. Michael McGrath, manager Knock Airport and banking executive, Ms. Beverly Cooper-Flynn, daughter of EU Commissioner, Padraig Flynn. The report points out that at the moment the Aer Corps and the Shannon-based Marine Search and Rescue helicopter provide an invaluable service in transporting critically ill patients to hospital. However, it maintains that both have other missions to fulfil and that a dedicated full-time emergency service was required.
The detailed report calls for a specially trained doctor and paramedic to be included among the crew. It states: "Because of the deficiencies in road infrastructure and the isolated nature of Irelandís rural terrain, it often takes several hours for accident victims with serious injuries to get to an appropriate hospital. This can have tragic consequences.
"The introduction of a nationwide HEMS service would revolutionise the delivery of critical care to major trauma patients, particularly those in road traffic accidents. "It would enable medical personnel to make use of the much prized "golden-hour" following major trauma. In this "golden hour", stabilisation of the casualty can mean the difference between life and death, and has been proven to reduce long term morbidity in the survivors of major trauma. "Since deaths from serious injury are known to be reduced if appropriate critical care can be provided within the first hour, it is obvious that a HEMS service would reduce mortality figures."
The document states that immediate on-site care service would not only save lives by its rapid response, it would also retrieve patients from remote areas much faster. It could be involved in the airborne transfer of neonates as well as the transfer of vital organs.
Connaught Telegraph - News - February 1996
Connaught Telegraph - Sport - February 1996
