The transfer of a sick newborn infant to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital was delayed by hours after TWO ambulances broke down.
The infant was due to be brought from Cork University Hospital to the Crumlin Children’s Hospital in Dublin in a special neonatal ambulance equipped with an incubator.
But the vehicle broke down near Mitchelstown approximately 55km from CUH.
A second ambulance was dispatched but it too developed problems and it took five-and-half hours for the transfer.
A source in the ambulance service said the second vehicle “limped back to Dublin but they got the baby to the hospital”.
This second vehicle had to stop en route to Cork to collect the incubator that had been in the neonatal vehicle as the equipment is recommended for transporting babies.
Sources in the ambulance service revealed the neonatal ambulance is nearing the end of its life as it has in the region of 360,000km on its odometer.
The source said it is due to cease being used when it reaches 400,000.
While the HSE has said “the only vehicles planned to be purchased in 2014 are emergency ambulances” it did not say whether a new neonatal ambulance would be one of them.
A spokeswoman for the HSE confirmed that on March 3 the neonatal ambulance was asked to go to Cork University Hospital, “to transport a neonate back to Dublin”.
She said the ambulance had left the Rotunda at 6.35pm to go to Cork but developed a mechanical problem on the outskirts of the city and reported it to the control station.
A response vehicle was dispatched from Cork City Station and it collected the medical team that had travelled with the ambulance and brought them to CUH.
The spokeswoman said: “Control also alerted the night shift vehicle [5V98] in Dublin requesting that it proceed to Cork and [it] collected the incubator and then [went] on to Cork University Hospital.”
She said as this ambulance arrived at the Dublin side of the Naas road it also suffered from problems.
The spokeswoman added: “This vehicle developed a loss of power but it was in a position to continue to its destination under reduced power and completed the assigned call.”
She said the first vehicle broke down on March 3 and “the second vehicle developed difficulties in the early hours of March 4”.
This means it was at least five-and-a-half hours until the baby arrived at Crumlin Children’s Hospital.
The HSE did not respond when asked exactly what time the baby left CUH and arrived at Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin.
Source-Irish Mirror
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