A grieving mum has criticised ambulance response time in Dundalk, believing it was the reason her son died.  

 

Dualtagh Donnelly cut his arm on glass in the early hours of Monday, 26th October, and the family say it took over 20 minutes for a paramedic to arrive and another 20 minutes for an ambulance.

 

His partner Lindzie Cooney, who is currently pregnant with the couple’s third child, said that the 25-year-old cut an artery in his arm and was losing blood quickly. As she tried to stop the steam of blood, she told the ambulance control centre that he was losing consciousness.

 

 

Ms Cooney called 999 at 3:06am and, despite their house being just five minutes from Dundalk ambulance station, a paramedic arrived in a rapid response car after 23 minutes, according to the HSE.

 

Dualtagh’s mum, Oonagh, has said that her son would be alive if he had received help quicker: “[He] would be alive today if there was an ambulance with him within 15 minutes. Always, always there should be an ambulance in Dundalk”.

 

Something that his partner agrees with: “If an ambulance had got to him earlier he would not have lost so much blood. What happened was an absolute disgrace, it was too long for an ambulance to come. It has left me very angry that you wait that long with somebody bleeding to death.”

 

In response to the claims, the HSE have said: “At the time the call was received a number of NAS emergency resources were dealing with other emergency calls and the nearest available emergency resources, a rapid response vehicle with an advanced paramedic on board and an emergency ambulance were dispatched to the incident and arrived at the scene at 03:29 and 03:45hrs.”

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