The establishment of a permanent Emergency Aeromedical Support (EAS) service is a most welcome development. Operated by the Air Corps and the National Ambulance Service on a trial basis since 2012, aeromedical support is now an essential part of pre-hospital emergency response. It has offered seriously ill and injured people living in remote areas timely access to high quality clinical care.
With over 1,000 missions successfully completed, the Air Corps, with back-up from Irish Coast Guard (IRCG) helicopters, has helped save the lives of heart attack patients and those who suffer serious trauma in road traffic accidents. People living in Mayo, Roscommon, Galway and the northwest have benefited especially: with a dispersed population, less well developed road infrastructure and much greater transport time to major hospitals, the EAS service has helped reduce emergency response times to ones closer to those for other parts of the country.
For patients with a common type of heart attack, accessing specialist coronary intervention within 90 minutes is essential in order to prevent permanent damage to heart muscle. Some 325 such patients have received timely treatment since the EAS service began. From January to June, the EAS and IRCG have flown some 165 trauma patients to an acute hospitals. The professionalism and commitment of the Air Corps in providing a dedicated helicopter service from a new base in Athlone is a key element in the EAS success story. Working with advanced paramedics from the National Ambulance Service, the crews fly to a pre-determined landing zone nearest the patient, who is then transported to hospital.
The possibility of extending the geographical reach of the service must now be looked at; in particular the Ministers for Health in the Republic and Northern Ireland must seriously consider the merits of setting up an all-island service. And as recommended by an expert group, all future acute hospital developments must include provision for a ground helipad.