Limerick City and County Council to wait on ‘first responders’ decision
WHY does Limerick have to wait before members of Limerick Fire and Rescue service can be deployed as “first responders” to medical emergencies, Cllr Adam Teskey has asked.
The Fine Gael councillor called for such a move to be allowed at a meeting of Adare Rathkeale councillors in January saying it was “a matter of life and death” given the pressures on the National Ambulance Service because of Covid-19 and associated staff shortage.
But now he has been told that Limerick must await the outcome of national discussions and get direction before anything can happen locally.
“Two other counties have taken up the baton,” Cllr Teskey claimed at the February meeting of Adare Rathkeale councillors. Donegal and Kerry had shown “exemplary leadership” on this issue, he added. “Why have we to be lacking in Limerick?”, he demanded. “Does it suit us to throw the can back to central government?”
He cited an example where a family was waiting over 45 minutes for an ambulance in a town where the Fire and Rescue service could have been there within 15 minutes.
Members of the service, both retained and full time, were telling him they were “blue in the face” from pushing for the change he proposed., he continued, yet the only response was to wait for central government.
Cllr Teskey added that he was extremely disappointed that his motion on the matter had not been brought before a full meeting of Limerick City and County and instead had been forwarded to a Special Policy Committee.
Cllr Stephen Keary highlighted the fact that whole areas could be left without ambulance cover, often for considerable time, because ambulance personnel were obliged to remain with their patient until hand over in A&E - I don’t know how they are going to solve it,” he said, before continuing: “There should be no person left waiting if there is an adjacent fully equipped fire service around that is capable of dealing with that.”
Cllr Bridie Collins reminded councillors of the excellent work done by voluntary First Responders in various towns and villages, including Adare. “We can support and encourage other communities to take part,” she said.