Wexford TDs Call for Urgent Action Amid Ambulance and Hospital Crisis

Wexford TDs Sinn Fein's Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin and Labour Deputy George Lawlor have both raised serious concerns over the ongoing ambulance and hospital crisis in Wexford, with both calling on the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, to take immediate action. They both highlighted the extreme pressures facing Wexford General Hospital, citing a recent incident where 14 ambulances were forced to queue outside the hospital for up to eight hours, while additional ambulance crews had to be brought in from Dublin, Kilkenny and Tipperary to provide any level of service. The crisis was brought to a head by a shocking and traumatic incident. Deputy Ó Súilleabháin shared the story of eight-year-old Caiden, who had suffered life-threatening injuries after falling from his bunk bed and becoming impaled on a fishing chair. Despite the gravity of his injuries—just millimeters from his jugular vein—it took an hour and a half for an ambulance to arrive, during which time Caiden's parents desperately called 999 several times as their son drifted in and out of consciousness. "No parent should have to endure the trauma of waiting up to an hour and a half for help," Ó Súilleabháin said. Fortunately, Caiden underwent major surgery and is recovering, but the situation could have had a much worse outcome. Deputy George Lawlor, Wexford TD echoed the same concerns. He called the ambulance delays and hospital overcrowding an "urgent crisis" that demands immediate intervention. Both TDs have called on the Minister for Health to step in and address the issue before further lives are put at risk. Deputy Lawlor has stressed that Wexford Hospital needs a 20-bed demountable unit to ease the current pressure until the new 97-bed facility is completed.