The mother of a 14-year-old with cardiac issues thought her son was going to die at home after his lips turned blue and she was told an ambulance would take 45 minutes to get to them.
Marie, who is a nurse working in an emergency department, rang 999 in the early hours of Thursday morning when her son couldn't breathe and his oxygen levels dropped to around 60. The family live in the southeast and the teen needed to be taken to Crumlin Hospital due to his condition.
Speaking to Katie Hannon on RTE's Liveline Marie said she ended up calling the gardai for help and they blue lighted them down the motorway to the busy children's hospital. While her son is now home and improving, she said had they waited for an ambulance her son would not be alive today.
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She said: "I lucky enough had oxygen at home, not because he was prescribed or anything - it's now going to be put in place that we have oxygen at home. His lips were nearly black - oxygen levels were down about 60. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't speak. Lucky enough I'm a nurse. I knew what to do, put him on the oxygen and I rang 999 and I put it in as a Delta call which is cardiac arrest the highest priority for ambulances. I was told the nearest ambulance was 45 minutes away."
She said she had oxygen in the home so that when he needed care she could put him on it and bring him to Crumlin for specialist care as his condition is too complex. But what turned out to be Influenza A for her son could have led to cardiac arrest had they not been seen on time.
She continued: "My son was about to go into respiratory arrest. If that happens, even a normal, healthy child, if they go into respiratory arrest and you don't prevent it, they then go into cardiac arrest. It's very hard to get a healthy child out of cardiac arrest. Now I've seen it, I work in A&E, I couldn't believe it. I actually couldn't believe it was that bad for a cardiac arrest call.
"I've never seen anything like it. My daughter, she's 28, she's traumatised. She was on the phone - I had handed her the phone because I was obviously dealing with my son - and she was like "it's an emergency" and they went "yeah, they're all emergencies". And she said "this is a 14-year-old child" and they said "yeah, doesn't matter. 45 mins".
"Thankfully I had the whereabouts to ring the guards who were absolutely fabulous. I honestly don't know what we would have done without them. They met us on the motorway. I told them "I live down the country, I need to get my son to Crumlin". So they blue lighted us and then a guard drove my car and we were actually in Crumlin hospital before the ambulance would have got to my house.
"I don't know how I had the whereabouts to ring the guards and I hope they don't get inundated with calls now but only for them that night we just wouldn't have made it."
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Marie went on to slam the management of the ambulance service and said the amazing staff working day to day have their hands tied when it comes to caring for patients. "In this day and age the ambulance service is a joke," she continued.
"And do you know, we have the best paramedics, we have the best drivers but they can't go to a call and say you don't need an ambulance. They're well qualified, and they're not allowed. Somebody has to be held accountable why a 14-year-old child could have been left to die because your cardiac arrest call is 45 minutes. It's not acceptable in this day and age.
"It's a national ambulance service that is not working. We have ambulances coming from Wicklow to Carlow to pick up patients to bring them to Waterford, Kilkenny. It's a joke, an absolute joke, and something needs to be done about it.
"I've never had to ring for an ambulance [before]. And the one night I need it, they're 45 minutes away. I just had him buried at that stage, it's too late. He thought he was dying. If I had to wait for an ambulance, he wouldn't be here. When you ring 999, don't think an ambulance is coming."
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