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Dave Einsel/AP
A Cessna Citation jet, similar to that used by AeroMedevac Ireland.
# Air Ambulance
Air ambulance service to begin 24-hour operations from Dublin Airport
AeroMedevac Ireland will begin a 24-hour service tomorrow, after newspaper reports that it was only able to operate during daylight.
AN AIR AMBULANCE provider which currently operates from a private airport in Leixlip is to be relocated to Dublin Airport from tomorrow in order to allow for a 24-hour service.
AeroMedevac Ireland is currently contracted to provide airlift services to Crumlin Children’s Hospital, having been hired last month in the aftermath of the Meadhbh McGivern controversy.
The Irish Independent had reported this morning that because the service was based at the private Weston Airport, near Leixlip, that it could only operate during daylight flying hours.
RTÉ News reports, however, that AeroMedevac this afternoon issued a statement saying it had been given clearance by the Dublin Airport Authority to relocate its operations, allowing for 24 hour service.
The move means that the company’s Cessna Citation jet, which is fully equipped as an air ambulance, will be able to fly 24 hours a day.
A HIQA report into the circumstances of Meadhbh McGivern’s aborted transplant, published last week, decried the fact that there was no single authority in Ireland tasked with organising emergency air transport for those who may need it.
In Meadhbh’s case, Crumlin Children’s Hospital had been able to source a private flight to bring her to London where a donor organ had become available – but was ultimately unable to pursue its plans.
Meadhbh was ultimately forced to turn down the offer of the transplant from the King’s College Hospital because the Coast Guard helicopter provided to carry her would not have made it to London in time for the organ to be used.
Read full reports in the Irish Independent and at RTÉ >
Read: Meadhbh McGivern’s family tell of ‘shock’ at HIQA report findings >
