Beacon's ambulance service is a first for private hospitals

THE BEACON Hospital in Dublin has launched an ambulance service, becoming the first private hospital in the State to do so.

Named the “Beacon Rapid Response Service”, it will provide access to emergency treatment for the patients of more than 400 GPs in the south Dublin and Wicklow areas.

“The call for the service has come from the GPs in our catchment area,” according to Patrick Hyland-McGuire, chief of emergency medicine at the hospital. “We’re providing the service for the many patients who can’t make it to our emergency unit themselves.”

The new service, initially comprising two ambulances and operated in partnership with the Medicall ambulance service, can be requested only by a GP.

The ambulance will transfer patients who require immediate hospital admission or emergency care from the GP’s surgery or the patient’s home to Beacon Hospital’s emergency department between 8am and 7pm from Monday to Saturday.

“Patients coming into our ambulance-receiving bay will be seen immediately by our triage nursing team,” said Mr Hyland-McGuire.

“It is different from public hospitals in that there are no junior doctors in our emergency department and patients will not have to wait to see one of our three emergency medicine consultants.”

The hospital said the ambulances would be equipped with a “Lifepac 15” cardiac monitor and defibrillator with ECG capability, enabling the immediate diagnosis of cardiac problems.

The machines can also transmit patient data to the hospital’s on-call cardiologist and emergency department consultant during the journey time.

However, patients requiring obstetric, major trauma, stroke, psychiatric and overdose or poisoning care as well as those under 16 years of age cannot be taken to the hospital by the new service.

“The Beacon is an adult hospital and we would have no facilities on site to deal with these patients,” Mr Hyland-McGuire said.

A fee of €120 applies for all patients attending the hospital’s emergency department and this fee also covers the ambulance.