Geography

West Cork is a vast region, and the distance between locations is heavily weighted by the fact that the area also spans three peninsulas. The table below shows those distances and how stretched the service will be during the affected hours. It indicates how far an ambulance might have to travel in an emergency, assuming a vehicle is readily available and despatched immediately, and the return distance to hospital services in Cork city.

(See the HIQA Response Time Recommendations)

HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority)

Pre-hospital Emergency Care Key Performance Indicators for Emergency Response Times

November 2010

RECOMMENDATIONS

A. Clinical Status 1 – ECHO: Patients with life-threatening cardiac or respiratory arrest incidents are responded to by a first responder, which includes advanced paramedics, paramedics or cardiac first responders in 7 minutes and 59 seconds or less in 75% of all cases.

B. Clinical Status 1 – DELTA: Patients with life-threatening conditions other than cardiac or respiratory arrest incidents are responded to by a first responder which includes advanced paramedics, paramedics or emergency first responders in 7 minutes and 59 seconds or less in 75% of all cases.

C. Clinical Status 1 – ECHO calls should have a patient-carrying vehicle at the scene of the incident within 18 minutes 59 seconds.

D. Clinical Status 1 – DELTA calls should have a patient-carrying vehicle at the scene of the incident within 18 minutes 59 seconds.

E. Clinical Status 2 – CHARLIE calls should have a patient-carrying vehicle at the scene of the incident within 18 minutes 59 seconds.

F. Clinical Status 2 – BRAVO calls should have a patient-carrying vehicle at the scene of the incident within 18 minutes 59 seconds.
 
 
A first responder is defined as a person who attends a potentially life-threatening emergency who:

  • is suitably trained and holds a recognised qualification, as a minimum, in basic life support and the use of a defibrillator
  • attends regular refresher courses
  • is formally networked with a national ambulance control centre.

(The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) is an independent, government-funded agency)

It should be noted that once an ambulance is despatched to Cork City it is on average unavailable to the region for three hours. It should also be noted that an ambulance is designed to carry one patient only.

(Scroll to below the table, and you’ll be able to use the map to get a visual perspective on the extent of the terrain)

Town or Village Distance from Bantry Distance from Clonakilty Distance to Cork City
Adrigole 36 Kilometres (38 minutes) 81 Kilometres (1 Hour 25 mins) 108 Kilometres (1 hours 47 mins)
Ahakista 19 Kilometres (23 minutes) 66 Kilometres (1 Hour 9 mins) 105 Kilometres (1 hours 48 mins)
Allihies 71 Kilometres (1 Hour 14 mins) 116 Kilometres (2 Hours 1 min) 144 Kilometres (2 hours 24 mins)
Ballydehob 18 Kilometres (19 minutes) 47 Kilometres (45 mins) 100 Kilometres (1 hour 40 mins)
Ballylickey 6 Kilometres (8 minutes) 52 Kilometres (56 mins) 85 Kilometres (1 hour 23 mins)
Baltimore 43 Kilometres (46 minutes) 45 Kilometres (48 mins) 98 Kilometres (1 hour 43 mins)
Bantry n/a 49 Kilometres (57 mins) 85 Kilometres (1 hour 25 mins)
Caheragh 17 Kilometres (19 minutes) 41 Kilometres (40 mins) 83 Kilometres (1 hour 24 mins)
Castletownbere 51 Kilometres (55 minutes) 97 Kilometres (1 Hour 42 mins) 125 Kilometres (2 hour 5 mins)
Castletownsend 40 Kilometres (41 minutes) 34 Kilometres (34 mins) 87 Kilometres (1 hours 30 mins)
Clonakilty 49 Kilometres (57 minutes) n/a 53 Kilometres (55 mins)
Crookhaven 41 Kilometres (44 minutes) 80 Kilometres (1 hour 18 mins) 126 Kilometres (2 hours 8 mins)
Drimoleague 20 Kilometres (21 minutes) 36 Kilometres (40 mins) 73 Kilometres (1 hour 14 mins)
Dunmanway 26 Kilometres (31 minutes) 23 Kilometres (26 mins) 48 Kilometres (1 hour 1 min)
Durrus 12 Kilometres (18 minutes) 62 Kilometres (1 hour 1 min) 94 Kilometres (1 hour 38 mins)
Eyeries 59 Kilometres (1 hour 3 mins) 104 Kilometres (1 hour 50 mins) 132 Kilometres (2 hours 12 mins)
Glandore 40 Kilometres (42 minutes) 20 Kilometres (21 mins) 73 Kilometres (1 hour 16 mins)
Glengarriff 18 Kilometres (20 minutes) 63 Kilometres (1 hour 7 mins) 91 Kilometres (1 hour 30 mins)
Goleen 33 Kilometres (37 minutes) 70 Kilometres (1 hour 10 mins) 118 Kilometres (1 hour 59 mins)
Kilcrohane 24 Kilometres (28 minutes) 73 Kilometres (1 hour 16 mins) 109 Kilometres (1 hour 52 mins)
Mizen Head 43 Kilometres (52 minutes) 80 Kilometres (1 hour 26 mins) 126 Kilometres (2 hours 15 mins)
Schull 25 Kilometres (27 minutes) 55 Kilometres (53 mins) 85 Kilometres (1 hour 49 mins)
Sheepshead (Tooreen) 35 Kilometres (41 minutes) 85 Kilometres (1 hour 31 mins) 111 Kilometres (1 hour 52 mins)
Skibbereen 33 Kilometres (34 minutes) 33 Kilometres (34 minutes) 67 Kilometres (1 hour 27 mins)
Toormore 27 Kilometres (28 minutes) 64 Kilometres (1 hour 2 mins) 110 Kilometres (1 hour 52 mins)
Union Hall 38 Kilometres (41 minutes) 23 Kilometres (26 mins) 76 Kilometres (1 hour 21 mins)

(You can use your cursor to drag and move the map, and the [ + ] and [ - ] buttons on the upper left side to zoom in and out.)


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