Ireland’s first charity led Air Ambulance delivered 56 missions in its first month of service – and was officially launched earlier this week by An Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney.
The new Air Ambulance is expected to perform 500 life-saving missions per annum and to be largely funded by public donations.
The County Cork based service is being led by Irish Community Rapid Response (ICRR) and delivered with the HSE National Ambulance Service (NAS) and the Department of Health.
The Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) went live on Tuesday, July 30th and has been tasked with 56 missions during its first month to August 30th. On its busiest day to date, the service was tasked five times.
The National Ambulance Service tasks the HEMS through 112 / 999 calls to its National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC).
Partnership approach
Officially launching the service at its North Cork base, An Tánaiste Simon Coveney commended the partnership approach which has been developed.
“This project involves Irish Community Rapid Response and the HSE’s National Ambulance Service coming together to save lives and serve the public good. I strongly commend this partnership approach and the State is fully committed to it. It will assist in saving lives by delivering rapid care to patients.”
In the partnership, which has been agreed, the charity is funding the cost of the helicopter, the pilots, the fuel and the airbase near Millstreet in County Cork.
The National Ambulance Service is resourcing the medical staffing and coordinating all the tasking of the craft through its aeromedical desk situated in the NEOC in Tallaght.
While Munster based, it will be available for missions nationwide and work in tandem with the existing Athlone based Emergency Aeromedical Service.
The charity Air Ambulance brings the population of a 10,000 square mile area within 20 minutes of critical medical care.
Since 2008, ICRR has also developed a network of over 250 land based volunteer doctors and ten Rapid Response Vehicles (RRVs), across the country, to deliver critical medical interventions which prevent serious injury or death who are also dispatched to calls by the NEOC, within the National Ambulance Service.
