Brian Stanley warns of ambulance strike risk over HSE changes
Brian Stanley raised alarm in the Dáil about Ambulance Services balloting for industrial action and unilateral changes by the HSE and National Ambulance Service. He warned a strike would be catastrophic, urged the Minister for Health to intervene, and demanded trainee paramedics be allowed into full-time roles.
Allegations of unilateral changes
Brian Stanley said trainee paramedics who have completed their degree and been working with ambulance crews over the last three years will no longer enter into full-time positions in the National Ambulance Service. He described proposed deployment changes that would move staff from a local basin of more than 45 kilometres to being assigned across three regions - a change he said could mean journeys of more than 200 kilometres and impose extreme travel after 13- or 14-hour shifts.
Staffing and training numbers
He said the National Ambulance Service has only about 60% of the workforce it needs. He highlighted that 16 million has been spent training 400 trainee paramedics and warned that new barriers would make it harder for these trained staff to join the service.
Risk of strike and breakdown in relations
Mr Stanley said Ambulance Services are balloting for industrial action over the next four weeks and that any strike action would have catastrophic impact. He accused management of an "iron fist approach", described a complete breakdown between unions and management, and urged the Minister for Health to intervene to restore common sense and avert strike action.
Parliamentary response and call for engagement
Another speaker thanked Deputy Stanley for raising the issue, said they would speak with the Minister for Health on the matter, and emphasized that disputes are resolved by engagement. That speaker expressed hope substantive engagement would be found to avoid disruption to services and said they would pass on Deputy Stanley's views to the Minister for Health.
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The Ambulance Services are currently balloting for industrial action, and that will take place over the next four weeks. Should this develop into strike action, the impact will be catastrophic. The reason is the changes that have been implemented unilaterally by the HSE and National Ambulance Services Management. Among these are the trainee paramedics who have completed their degree and been working with ambulance crews over the last three years will no longer enter into full-time positions in the National Ambulance Services. Also, the situation currently is, the staff would only be deployed to another basin of more than 45 kilometres from the one they're currently stationed at. Management now wants to change that to three regions in the country. So this could mean going over 200 kilometres plus. People with mortgages, what do they do? Imagine what this would mean as well to travel in terms of at the end of a 13 or 14 hour shift. So we badly need additional staff in the Ambulance Services, as the National Ambulance Services has only about 60% of the numbers that we need. We've spent millions, 16 million currently training, 400 of these, and then we're going to make it as hard as possible for them to come into the service. The iron fist approach of management has to be halted. And I'm asking you to furnish the and Minister, Karen McNeill, Minister for Health, to intervene and restore some level of common sense and ensure that these young, highly skilled workers are brought into the service. And strike action is averted. We cannot have strike action. And there's a complete breakdown between the unions and management here. It's been an iron fist approach. And somebody needs to have a chat with management in the HSE and the National Ambulance Service. Thank you very much, Deputy Stanley, for raising the issue. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I'll certainly speak with the Minister for Health on foot of you raising this here in the Dáil today. I would make the point broadly that any dispute gets resolved by engagement, by people engaging. And I certainly hope that we don't get into a position of seeing an industrial dispute that causes a disruption to service. I know nobody will want that, including people who do an excellent job in the service. So I'd hope we can find, through the mechanisms available, an opportunity for substantive engagement. And I'll certainly pass on your views to the Minister for Health today.
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