Man dies in Kildare after waiting 25 minutes for ambulance

Concerns are being raised again about the lack of ambulance cover in some parts of the country after it emerged that a man died in Kildare while waiting for an ambulance to be dispatched from a nearby hospital.
46-year-old Paddy Meaney collapsed near Naas Garda Station on May 19th.
An ambulance was called to attend the scene from Naas General Hospital which is less than a kilometre away but it reportedly took paramedics 25 minutes to arrive at the scene after the only ambulance on call in the region was already attending a patient.
During that time Gardai unsuccessfully attempted to resuscitate the dad of four.
The HSE is to issue a statement.
Michael Dixon of the National Ambulance Service Representative Association has been speaking to KFM.
“Well the main instruction at the moment is all about cost-saving; it’s all about saving money, it’s not about saving lives anymore” he said.
“I dread to say that – but that’s the exact way we’re looking at the moment”.
“If you don’t replace a member of staff on an ambulance service resource, then obviously you’re going to be putting the public…at risk” he added.