Girl (19) dies on 2 hour ambulance ride to hospital

davet82

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ambulance-service-apologises-after-girl-died-on-twohour-trip-3173479.html

Elaine Curley (19), from Creggs, Co Roscommon, had internal bleeding and died during the two-hour journey.

The teenager was just 15 minutes away from Roscommon Hospital when she was involved in a car crash, but was brought instead to Galway due to the closure of the A&E department in Roscommon.

I hope these cuts are worth it lads :mad:

Hardonraging

You dont wanna go that way, go on down past the cross road, take the road down to the right, keep going untill you see a patch of grass in the middle of the road, if you see that, you're on the right road, then take the turn after the field and you'll be back on the motorway !!

kfallon

Jesus that's awful, poor girl!

vicwatson

There is NO excuse for this in this day and age.

NONE.

vicwatson

Cue Luke Ming re closure of A&E in Roscommon (and he'd be right to kick up a major fuss over this)

PogMoThoin

Luke Ming said this would happen, sad that it takes a death to highlight it. The Government need to hang their heads in shame.

Pushtrak

Why would they go the indirect way? Its also ridiculous that the Roscommon A&E were closed, but from the article, the indirect way took 2 hours, whereas the direct way would have been 1 hour 20.

And the ambulance then transported the young woman to Portiuncula, in Ballinasloe, before it was diverted to UCHG in Galway, adding an extra 30 minutes to the journey.

Edit: That wouldn't have made any difference in the end, I guess.

chin_grin

Hardonraging wrote: »

You dont wanna go that way, go on down past the cross road, take the road down to the right, keep going untill you see a patch of grass in the middle of the road, if you see that, you're on the right road, then take the turn after the field and you'll be back on the motorway !!

And this is supposed to be funny, how?

BraziliaNZ

vicwatson wrote: »

There is NO excuse for this in this day and age.

NONE.

Not the excuses you want to hear, but there are, the country is broke due to mismanagement and greed and corruption at the highest level

davet82

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Not the excuses you want to hear, but there are, the country is broke due to mismanagement and greed

if some politician gave me that excuse after my daughter died after a 2 hour journey when there was a perfectly good functioning hospital 15 minutes away, i'd strangle the bastard on the spot

Robbo

Edit: should have read the full article, as if that's a bar to expressing a trenchant opinion on AH.

Duggy747

It was only a matter of time when a scenario like this happened where an ambulance would be caught out on the back arse of nowhere roads in Roscommon and unable to get to Galway on time.

Even then, Roscommon hospital is only equipped to look after certain cases. Serious cases like this would involve transferring to Galway anyways, though they could have bought her more time.

Taking a direct route from the county to Galway, it's a nightmare getting through Tuam during heavy traffic. Complete bottleneck of a town.

Hardonraging

chin_grin wrote: »

And this is supposed to be funny, how?

Read the article ... they took advice on directions from a local, who in turn cost them 30 mins extra ...

What i'm not saying, which is pretty obvious, " it's clearly a travesty, and the closure of the hospital is a total disaster, but the crew clearly took responsibility for there actions.

davet82

OSI wrote: »

Don't Ambulances have GPS?

it would have only cut the travel time by 30 minutes if they had of taken the right route, an hour and half to hospital is still too much!

BraziliaNZ

davet82 wrote: »

if some politician gave me that excuse after my daughter died after a 2 hour journey when there was a perfectly good functioning hospital 15 minutes away, i'd strangle the bastard on the spot

I don't think he'd hang himself in front of a grieving father

Felexicon

It's horrible for the young girl and the family that are left behind.
But being honest an A&E service for Roscommon just weren't sustainable in the current economic climate. The only way of having more A&E deparments is the privatisation of the medical sector. We will then have people suffering because they can't afford to be taken to hospital.

A really horrible story to read though.

xzanti

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

the country is broke due to mismanagement and greed and corruption at the highest level

Exactly.. a set of parents are mourning their baby girl today who might still be here if some greedy bastards hadn't lined their pockets with our futures.

Sickening..

RIP to the poor girl.

chin_grin

Hardonraging wrote: »

Read the article ... they took advice on directions from a local, who in turn cost them 30 mins extra ...

I know what forum we're in but...ok.

Hardonraging wrote: »

What i'm not saying, which is pretty obvious, " it's clearly a travesty, and the closure of the hospital is a total disaster, but the crew clearly took responsibility for there actions.

Funnily enough we're not mind readers in AH! So if you included this in your original post it would have made a (tiny bit) more sense.

davet82

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

I don't think he'd hang himself in front of a grieving father

i'm sure that man will be looking for answer off somebody anyways

Lollipops23

God that's just awful. It's all well and good for them to insist she never would have survived the heart attack even if she was at the hospital, but that'll be small comfort to her poor family.

I just can't believe the ambulance didn't themselves know the best route to the nearest A&E, surely that's a pretty big part of their job..?

Hardonraging

chin_grin wrote: »

I know what forum we're in but...ok.



Funnily enough we're not mind readers in AH! So if you included this in your original post it would have made a (tiny bit) more sense.

This maybe AH, but come on even I'm not that low to make jokes about somebody's death !!

Son Of A Vidic

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Not the excuses you want to hear, but there are, the country is broke due to mismanagement and greed and corruption at the highest level

Which still does not justify nor excuse the tragic death of the child, due to the degradation of our health services.

hondasam

davet82 wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ambulance-service-apologises-after-girl-died-on-twohour-trip-3173479.html



I hope these cuts are worth it lads :mad:

Would she have survived if taken to Roscommon hospital?

RIP to the girl and no disrespect intended.

Bad Panda

Shocking.

You would think a f*cking ambulance would have GPS fitted, especially since they've to travel from Roscommon to Galway in an emergency!

Or at least know the bloody route in this event.

RIP. Should never have happened.

davet82

hondasam wrote: »

Would she have survived if taken to Roscommon hospital?

RIP to the girl and no disrespect intended.

We'll never know i guess

BraziliaNZ

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Which still does not justify nor excuse the tragic death of the child, due to the degradation of our health services.

No but it explains why it happened. If it's put to this government they'll just blame the previous one, the bullsh*t saga continues.

vicwatson

Hardonraging wrote: »

You dont wanna go that way, go on down past the cross road, take the road down to the right, keep going untill you see a patch of grass in the middle of the road, if you see that, you're on the right road, then take the turn after the field and you'll be back on the motorway !!

I don't get your effort at comedy. A 19 year old died. What planet do you live on?

J Cheever Loophole

Very very sad indeed. Rest In Peace to the young girl.

I wonder was the recent accident suffered by the new Air Ambulance a factor here? I'm not sure if that helicopter was replaced.

hondasam

Duggy747 wrote: »

Taking a direct route from the county to Galway, it's a nightmare getting through Tuam during heavy traffic. Complete bottleneck of a town.

I would imaging it was going no where near tuam on route to galway. Tuam is busy with the big dig but an ambulance would have no trouble getting through it.

tmc86

Lollipops23 wrote: »

I just can't believe the ambulance didn't themselves know the best route to the nearest A&E, surely that's a pretty big part of their job..?

I know right, surely once the A&E in Roscommon closed, the local ambulance force would have been briefed on transporting patients to the next nearest A&E and have transport plans in place so that the drivers knew where they were going.

I'm sick **** of the people running this country, how can they justify closing down an A&E department in a rural area yet they can allocate budgets for 10,000 silk ties and the likes?

Its time that all politicians copped the f*ck on and prioritised spending and telling us that their hands are tied and the money isn't there is pure and utter BS. There is always room for cuts in other areas which don't matter i.e. TD's christmas cards, silk ties, printing costs and more importantly SICK DAYS

Felexicon

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Which still does not justify nor excuse the tragic death of the child, due to the degradation of our health services.

True, but our goverment no longer has the power to make decisions about our health service. The are now puppets to people who care little about the people of this country once there is a profit being made.

Son Of A Vidic

hondasam wrote: »

Would she have survived if taken to Roscommon hospital?

If the 'Golden hour' principle of trauma care had of been applied in this case, it certainly would have greatly increased her chances of survival.

vicwatson

I'm sick **** of the people running this country into the ground

Let me fix that for you.

It's a small country, we are over-governed and they cannot get the simple things right, NO MATTER WHO SEEMS TO BE IN POWER, they fcuk up all the time.

corcaigh1

This is a ****ing disgrace, ****in idiots we have for politicians who cant stand up to the elite and this is the result of there cuts in basic services. Bastards.

christmas2012

So let me get this straight: There cutting services to the public who they are supposed to be representing.

..And paying themselves handsome salaries and pensions..while cutting everyone elses too..

Felexicon

It is the kind of screaming from the rafters without knowing what you're talking about attitude shown here that will stop this country from moving forward.

Son Of A Vidic

Felexicon wrote: »

True, but our goverment no longer has the power to make decisions about our health service.

Which was a decision that Lenihan and his fellow sheep decided to take at the time. So no, it's still no excuse.

seamus

Bad Panda wrote: »

You would think a f*cking ambulance would have GPS fitted, especially since they've to travel from Roscommon to Galway in an emergency!

I'm kind of torn on that one. I know my own GPS when you get out into the back arse of beyonds has a tendency to recommend a route which brings me down narrow country roads with grass growing in the middle, rather than taking me to the nearest N or R road and directing me from there.
This is most likely because the narrow road in question has a speed limit of 80km/h, so the sat nav thinks it's as fast as the 80km/h R-road.

So what do we do if a Sat Nav takes an ambulance down a very inefficient route because of poor mapping data, and someone dies? Most likely the driver would be lambasted for following the sat nav.

My sympathies to the family, but stories reported like this serve no purpose except to get people fired up. Accidents happens, people get injured and mistakes can be made. Sometimes people die. It's tragic. But unless anyone can point to any very specific negligent failure which resulted in this girl's death, then you're really getting worked up about a "**** happens" event.

I would hold most anger at the local who directed an ambulance down a poor route. If you don't know the route, just say you don't know!

humbert

Some people have said that Roscommon A&E couldn't have handled a serious case like this if it was there and she died 30 minutes from the hospital after a journey that took 30 minutes longer than it should.

More good hospitals is of course better but good treatment at fewer hospitals is arguably better than money being wasted on unreliable treatment in regional hospitals.


It's all dwarfed by the vast fortunes paid to banks and property developers but that's a different discussion altogether.

hondasam

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

If the 'Golden hour' principle of trauma care had of been applied in this case, it certainly would have greatly increased her chances of survival.

The hospital is saying she would not have survived and the family don't seem to be disputing that.
It's still not good enough but rural areas can be hard to navigate. I think this is just to highlight the hospital closure rather than the death of a young girl.

Yakult

Felexicon wrote: »

It is the kind of screaming from the rafters without knowing what you're talking about attitude shown here that will stop this country from moving forward.

How do you work that one out?

Felexicon

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Which was a decision that Lenihan and his fellow sheep decided to take at the time. So no, it's still no excuse.

I'm not saying it's an excuse by any means. This kind of thing should never happen in a fully developed country like Ireland.
My point is that people screaming for Ministers heads is not going to work in this situation as the change we require is immidiate, and unfortunately our country was backed into a corner wereby our elected representitives no longer have the authorisation to perform the very tasks they were elected for

hardCopy

I agree with the principal of concentrating care in specialist hospitals.

The problem here is that the girl should never have been in an ambulance, she should have been airlifted.

Hospitals shouldn't have been closed until the necessary air ambulance cover was made available, never mind the fact that the ambulance shouldn't be relying on directions from locals to find Galway.

Bad Panda

seamus wrote: »

I'm kind of torn on that one. I know my own GPS when you get out into the back arse of beyonds has a tendency to recommend a route which brings me down narrow country roads with grass growing in the middle, rather than taking me to the nearest N or R road and directing me from there.
This is most likely because the narrow road in question has a speed limit of 80km/h, so the sat nav thinks it's as fast as the 80km/h R-road.

So what do we do if a Sat Nav takes an ambulance down a very inefficient route because of poor mapping data, and someone dies? Most likely the driver would be lambasted for following the sat nav.

My sympathies to the family, but stories reported like this serve no purpose except to get people fired up. Accidents happens, people get injured and mistakes can be made. Sometimes people die. It's tragic. But unless anyone can point to any very specific negligent failure which resulted in this girl's death, then you're really getting worked up about a "**** happens" event.

I would hold most anger at the local who directed an ambulance down a poor route. If you don't know the route, just say you don't know!

I know what you mean re GPS, but sometimes I use it just to point me in the right direction and I can find my way then. Or just for measuring distances.

Not necessarily saying go the GPS route, you need to make your own calls too to get there quicker if that's your goal, especially being an ambulance driver.

ejmaztec

Felexicon wrote: »

True, but our goverment no longer has the power to make decisions about our health service. The are now puppets to people who care little about the people of this country once there is a profit being made.

I think they have, or they wouldn't be talking about dismantling the HSE.

hondasam

seamus wrote: »

I would hold most anger at the local who directed an ambulance down a poor route. If you don't know the route, just say you don't know!

I'm sure the local knew the way but was crap at giving directions. It's not that backward of an area.

Rascasse

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

If the 'Golden hour' principle of trauma care had of been applied in this case, it certainly would have greatly increased her chances of survival.

If we read the article we see that:

"However, the service insists that, in its view, Ms Curley could not have survived the heart attack regardless of which hospital she attended.".

and

'In a letter to the family, outlining aspects of the case, a spokesperson said: "Our genuine belief from reviewing the literature nationally and internationally is that the survival rate for blunt traumatic cardiac arrest is approximately zero per cent and Roscommon or any other hospital could not have saved Elaine."

tmc86

Felexicon wrote: »

It is the kind of screaming from the rafters without knowing what you're talking about attitude shown here that will stop this country from moving forward.

So you're saying the country would move forward better if we all shut up and followed the country's leaders like sheep?

I think it is actually your attitude that will stop the country moving forward if we all sit back and agree with how the country is being run.

Also this is a public forum for discussion so if you can't "scream from the rafters" here then we haven't a chance

hondasam

hardCopy wrote: »

The problem here is that the girl should never have been in an ambulance, she should have been airlifted.

How much will this cost every time it's needed? It's not practical.

mikemac1

Google maps tells me the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen is 60km away, far closer then Galway

And the Erne Hospital has 24 hour A&E cover

Just wondering do the HSE and NHS cooperate up there? Seemed a possible solution

dlofnep

Felexicon wrote: »

It's horrible for the young girl and the family that are left behind.
But being honest an A&E service for Roscommon just weren't sustainable in the current economic climate.

But handing over billions to unguaranteed bondholders is? This is a travesty.