MITCHELSTOWN ANGER OVER TWO HOUR WAIT FOR AMBULANCE
“If you have a sick or injured pet you can pick up the phone and talk to a vet but, if you are a human living in Mitchelstown you have to wait almost two hours before you get hold of an ambulance or a doctor”.
These were the words of one very unhappy Mitchelstown resident as she told The Avondhu of the trauma endured while waiting for an ambulance for a very ill member of her family.
“We called SouthDoc at around 9.50pm last Friday evening. After explaining what was wrong and asking for a doctor the voice on the other end of the phone said that they would get a nurse to ring us back, so we waited. When the nurse finally called back we had to explain the situation all over again and again we had to ask for a doctor,” the Mitchelstown resident, who does not wish to be identified, told The Avondhu.
According to the caller, the ambulance but no doctor arrived at their home two hours after she had put the original call into SouthDoc requesting help.
“We were lucky this time and the patient got help, but why, with all the doctors in Mitchelstown can we not have at least one on call that could respond to an emergency or at least talk to the patient or the family and assess the situation there and then?
"When one of the family’s pets was ill we were able to pick up the phone and talk to a vet and, if we needed it, the vet would have called to the house. Why is this possible for animals but not possible for people?” the distraught caller said.
The Avondhu contacted SouthDoc and outlined these concerns; unfortunately we did not receive a response before going to press.
Published:
Thursday 28th October 9:00pm
