Five ambulances were ‘backed-up’ for between two and four and a half hours at on the night a dying Co Donegal woman waited up to 50 minutes to be taken to hospital.
Mother-of-two Maura Porter, aged 70, suffered life-threatening injuries when she was struck by a car just 200 yards from her home on December 30th, 2013.
It took 50 minutes for the properly-equipped emergency ambulance to reach Mrs Porter in Carndonagh, more than 60 kms away, so she could be taken to hospital.
An inquest into the death of Mrs Porter began at Buncrana Courthouse today.
Director of the National Ambulance Service, Dr Cathal O’Donnell, revealed how there were just nine ambulances available for the entire of County Donegal on the evening.
However, five of those ambulances had been delayed at Letterkenny University Hospital trying to admit patients to the hospital.
It took these ambulances between 2 hours and 11 minutes and 4 hours and 42 minutes.
The normal ambulance based in Mrs Porter’s hometown of Carndonagh was en route to an emergency call between Malin and Letterkenny.
An advanced paramedic team dispatched from Letterkenny University Hospital did reach Mrs Porter at 6.25pm.
The late Maura Porter
However, an adequately-equipped emergency ambulance only reached Mrs Porter at 6.35pm and took her to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry but she died at 11.45pm from her injuries -fifty minutes after the initial 999 call.
Dr O’Donnell admitted, “There were nine ambulances rostered on duty in Donegal but they were held up at Letterkenny Hospital for hours and hours minding patients in corridors when they should have been available for dispatch.”
The tragedy sparked a review of ambulance response times in the region.
The key finding of the report was that the ambulance offload delay at Letterkenny University Hospital for several hours led to the depletion of ambulance services at Letterkenny hospital.
Dr O’Donnell also told the inquest that the response times for ambulances nationwide was an average of 19 minutes but said this could be greater in rural areas.
The heartbroken husband of Mrs Porter, Neil Porter, told the inquest how he knelt down beside his wife to reassure her on the roadway.
The retired fireman said his home is just 200 yards from where his wife was struck and that neighbours had called his son to say Mrs Porter had been in an accident.
“I knelt down beside her and to reassure her. I asked her to squeeze my hand but there was no response,” he said.
He said a number of people were gathering and there had been attempts to call the emergency services including the ambulance and the Gardai.
“It was pandemonium at that stage,” added Mr Porter.
He said the ambulance came around 50 minutes later and his wife was taken to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
Despite surgeons trying to save his wife’s life, her heart stopped a number of times and she eventually passed away at 11.45pm.
Mr Porter added that the next morning the driver of the car which struck his wife, Austin Stewart, arrived at his home with a Reverend and they said some prayers.
He added that Mr Stewart told him that he had simply not seen his wife before the crash.
In his evidence to the inquest, Mr Stewart, now 49, said he had left his mother’s house in Carndonagh and was driving to his home in Fahan.
As he drove towards Churchtown at between 25 and 30mph he felt a noise on the front left-hand side of his Peugeot car.
He slowed down and when he got out of his car he saw a woman on the road about 50 feet back.
He said he rang 999 at 17.41pm and then went back to the woman.
He said he tried to comfort the woman and that other people came along and put coats over her while another person asked for people to bring hot water bottles to keep her warm.
In cross-examination by the solicitor for the Porter family, Mr Seamus Gunne, the 49-year-old agricultural company employee admitted having no valid NCT on his car.
He also admitted having an excessively worn front right tyre.
Witnesses Kevin Clifton and Roisin Doherty disagreed in their evidence as to whether there was a cable on the road before the crash.
Mr Clifton, who was returning from Letterkenny hospital with his wife Sinead and newborn son said he did drive over a cable.
However, Ms Doherty said she saw no such cable or wire across the road.
Advanced paramedic Gary Gardiner and his colleagues were the first on the scene of the incident.
He told the court how he received the call at Letterkenny University Hospital at 17.49pm, was mobile at 17.50pm and arrived at the scene of the accident in Carndonagh at 18.25pm.
He added that considering the geography of the area, he could not have got to the scene any quicker.
Solicitor Mr Seamus Gunne, replied that he could have got there quicker if he was in Carndonagh and Mr Gardiner replied “yes.”
The inquest continues again tomorrow.
