Review of escorts for ambulances
Julie Kenwell • Published 19 Jan 2012 13:00
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Last year's accident outside Brookeborough triggered the review of protocols for an ambulance to travel under police escort.
THE protocols for an ambulance to travel under police escort in Northern Ireland have been reviewed in light of a serious accident in Fermanagh last January involving an ambulance and a flatbed lorry.
Six people were in an ambulance when it left the road and overturned down an embankment at the Station Road junction near Brookeborough on January 19, 2011.
Five people in all were taken to hospital, including a female anaesthetist, Dr Cathy Armstrong, who had suffered serious injuries as a result of the crash.
The ambulance, escorted by police, had been transferring a patient with swine flu to another hospital. The driver of the lorry sustained a minor head injury.
The accident brought to the fore the dangers posed by the Station Road junction.
But now the PSNI, the Health Service and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service have all reviewed their procedures in regard to the provision of police escorts.
A spokesperson for the Ambulance Service confirmed last year's accident had triggered the review.
He said: "Following a recent significant incident involving an ambulance travelling while under police escort, the Police, Health Service and NIAS are all reviewing their procedures in regard to the provision of police escorts.
"The Police have advised that they can only provide an escort with suitably trained motorcycle teams.
"NIAS staff have been advised that police escorts may not be available with the frequency or at short notice in the way we have experienced in the past.
"Staff have also been advised that when considering a police escort they should take into account why it would be required, what benefit it may bring, and the potential time-frame in which it may be available.
"In any circumstance, staff should not delay the transport of a patient while waiting on a response to a request for an escort. Such escorts will only be provided by PSNI personnel trained in escort duties.
"NIAS, Police and Health Services are working jointly to clarify the issues around escorts and new protocols will be issued when these are agreed," the spokesperson added, "NIAS and PSNI consider patient safety to be of paramount importance and will continue to work together to ensure that all patients are transported in as safe a manner as possible."
This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 19 Jan 12
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