Irish air ambulance says it is a casualty of virus
Howard Lake | 1 March 2020 | News
An Irish air ambulance service which started operations last year has ceased operation due to fundraising difficulties caused by covid-19, the charity’s manager says.
Ruth Bruton, operations manager with the Irish Community Rapid Response Air Ambulance Service (ICCR), told the Irish Examiner that it had taken the decision to ground the service indefinitely from April 3rd with deep regret.
She said restrictions on gatherings in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus had led to “all fundraising avenues being extinguished”.
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Ms Bruton said that the service, which is staffed by National Ambulance Service (NAS) personnel, had flown more than 350 missions since it began operations last September.
“We are very upset that lives will be lost due to the grounding of this service at this time, especially given how vital frontline medical support is during the Covid-19 pandemic and how successful the service has been to date,” she said.
Ms Bruton said the service had already made cost-cutting measures including the laying off of non-essential staff, cutting staff hours and introducing a five-day operational week to try to keep operating.
The Cork based service has previously said each of its missions costs an average of €3,500. The NAS covers the wages of medical personnel as well as the cost of medical equipment and medical consumables with the service covering the flight-related costs.
The service sought interim support from the Government but said it was yet to receive a reply from the authorities. The Irish Examiner reported that an agreement was reached between the NAS and the ICCR, that if the charity ran out of money, the Health Services Executive would not be liable.
They also reported that the charity claimed it had “wealthy benefactors”, capable of funding the service should they find themselves in financial difficulty, and that this detail was an essential part of the NAS agreeing to provide the ICCR with staff and equipment.
The HSE said a service-level agreement signed by both parties makes it clear that in the event that charitable donations fall short of what is required, the HSE will not be liable to maintain the service.
“Assurances were given that the charitable model was sustainable and that the ICRR had a number of benefactors who would support the charity for the first few years while the service evolved,” the HSE said.
When the air ambulance was launched last year the organisation said it would need to raise €2 million annually from the public to remain operational.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.