Dublin Woman Forced To Call RTÉ’s LiveLine To Get An Ambulance For Her Injured Elderly Mother

A woman whose elderly mother had a fall in her home resorted to calling Joe Duffy’s LiveLine yesterday after being unable to get an ambulance for her by calling the emergency services.

The woman who called into the show, Carole, explained to Joe that her 84-year-old mother had fallen, hitting the back of her head, in her Drumcondra home.

While trying to pull herself up, the elderly woman activated a Carelink emergency bracelet, and the Carelink team immediately called an ambulance.

However, after waiting over 30 minutes, Carole called for an ambulance herself.

She told RTÉ’s LiveLine: “We waited half an hour after that and I called 999 myself to be told there is nobody on the way and they don’t know when they’ll get somebody out, there are 12 ambulances in Dublin; 1.6 million people…”

Carole said that she received no advice from the emergency services regarding how to handle the situation.

Duffy soon welcomed a GP, Dr Austin Byrne, who was on another line during the show, to advise Carole on what to do.

He told Carole to “keep her warm, keep chatting to her”, before asking questions about the current condition of the woman. 

Shortly after the show, RTÉ confirmed that a HSE worker got in touch with the show, and an ambulance was sent out to the house in Drumcondra.

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