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Air ambulance would save Inishowen lives 29.03.07

NOBODY in Inishowen should be more than one hour’s travel time from A&E if ambulance cover and road conditions are optimum.
That’s according to Sinn Donegal North East representative, Cllr. Padraig MacLochlainn, who helped launch the party’s national priorities for hospital services this week.
"Providing emergency medical services presents one of the greatest challenges to any healthcare system. These services are needed to make fast and appropriate responses to life threatening situations. They therefore need to be accessible,” said Cllr. MacLochlainn.
"However the continued concentration of hospital services around Dublin, combined with inadequate investment elsewhere, has left many communities isolated from critical life-saving services,” he added.
In the first half of last year, 1137 appointments at Letterkenny General Hospital were cancelled due to the beds shortage at the Hospital, according to the SF document.
When it should not have exceeded 85%, bed occupancy at Letterkenny Hospital was at 105% throughout 2005.
To help give optimum ambulance cover, Sinn Fein says an air ambulance fleet should be incorporated into the health service.
The party is also seeking an all-Ireland national health service and regional cancer care with a satellite radiotherapy unit for the North West in Donegal.
Cllr. MacLochlainn explained: "Operating two separate healthcare systems for such a small population on an island with few urban centres, and served by poor transport infrastructure, has led to inefficiencies of scale, needless duplication of some services and difficulties in access to services - particularly for people living in rural border areas.”
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