Deputy Martin Kenny described how a constituent contacted him following a medical emergency with her son where the on-call surgeon struggled to find staff to help perform surgery.

A spokesperson for the HSE said that identifying those groups less likely to attend will help to reach a national average uptake of 70%

In the past two weeks the national ambulance service has received record call outs.

It emerged last week a number of nurses and healthcare staff raised concerns.

Mary Garvey says that extreme care must be taken to ensure only suitable patients are transferred to the hospital.

Councillor Peggy Nolan says that while people are able to access the service locally she is concerned that this is only due to the goodwill of local doctors.

The HSE confirmed the move this week.

The call came under fire with issues highlighted around the lack of necessary services at Roscommon Hospital.