Fears have been raised over a new rule banning paramedics from bringing their vehicles home overnight.
Previously, paramedics kept their emergency vehicles at home when they were off-duty, so that in the event of an emergency call they could immediately make their way to a patient.
However, the Revenue Commissioner has declared that staff bringing work vehicles home is considered a benefit-in-kind, forcing the HSE to enforce a rule on all employees.
The rule, implemented last week, now requires paramedics to drive to a centrally located depot to pick up their vehicles before responding to emergency calls.
For paramedics in rural areas, the rule adds lengthy commutes at critical times.
Kerrykeel woman Debbie McLaughlin is calling on the Fanad community to fight for the restoration of Chief Ambulance Officer JJ McGowan’s right to keep his response vehicle in the area.
She said: “JJ Mc Gowan has covered our area for many years and served us well, now we don’t have him anymore. What happens if someone we know and love takes seriously ill, we wait for an ambulance that could be 2 hours away at no fault of theirs. The ambulance wait times will now be affected by this mad decision and people will suffer or worse die.”
Local councillor Declan Meehan said there should be an exemption for ambulance vehicles and personnel when it comes to benefit in kind.
“This is a disgraceful bureaucratic decision that has no consideration for the implications it has on vulnerable patients in our rural communities,” Cllr Meehan told Donegal Daily.
“Our ambulance service personnel have, on their own time, provided voluntary emergency response services which has undoubtedly saved lives in communities the length and breadth of the county and country.
“They have prevented hospital admissions and have ensured that people who are in need of urgent care but are long distances from an ambulance or hospital get that care in a timely manner. To treat paramedics bringing their vehicles home as a personal benefit in kind is as ludicrous as it is perverse.
“The benefit is not to the individual paramedic, it is to the whole community.”
Cllr Meehan is calling on the Minister for Health and Minister for Finance to immediately reverse the move.
“The civil servants in Revenue who have made this decision clearly have no understanding or appreciation of the implications this move will have on emergency responses in rural communities,” he said.
A statement from the HSE said: “As a public body, the HSE cannot support the use of publicly owned emergency vehicles for purposes that the Revenue Commissioner considers potential personal use or benefit.”
Featured photo: National Ambulance Service
