BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

A new private ambulance service for the Galway’s late night revellers – the first of its kind in the country – is to be rolled out in the coming weeks, coinciding with the annual influx of third level students.

Based in the city centre, the ‘Night Medics’ service will run from 9pm to 4am each night and is aimed at providing a quick response to anyone requiring urgent medical treatment, and relieving pressure on the HSE’s official ambulance service.

The public ambulance service is under particular pressure on weekend nights when there are two or three ambulances on duty.

Already, 20 venues in the city signed up for the new service during a successful pilot scheme, which ran over 10 days during the Volvo Ocean Race.

And more premises are expected to sign up for the scheme over the coming weeks – it is opened to pubs, nightclubs, restaurants, hotels and other night-time venues.

“It’s not by any means purely-drink related incidents that we see. There are call-outs for diabetics, people with epilepsy or suffering from chest pains. It gives publicans and customers peace of mind, and some insurance companies also recognise the fact that a premises has signed up for the service,” Managing Director Conor McEvaddy told the Connacht Sentinel.

A special information evening will be held in Monroe’s Tavern next Wednesday night for publicans and nightclub managers.

The crew will park discreetly in the city centre and do regular runs during peak hours – every 20 to 30 minutes – along ‘the strip’ of premises that have signed up to the service.

The Galway operation will be the first of its kind in Ireland or the UK and will have a response time of a few minutes, in case of accident or emergency.

The company is also planning to roll out a similar service for Cork City.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel