Offaly TD Carol Nolan has described the 24-hour ambulance service strike as “yet another predictable and entirely preventable crisis caused by years of government inaction on frontline health workers.”
She was speaking as ambulance crews from the National Ambulance Service take industrial action over pay and conditions.
This morning, trade union Siptu denied that lives would be put at risk because of the 24 hour ambulance-strike. The union’s health division organiser Ciarán Sheridan told Newstalk Breakfast that strikers felt disappointed at coming to the point where they felt action had to be taken, but that crews were “absolutely resolute in ensuring that the additional responsibilities and roles they’ve taken on, in the interest of enhanced patient care will be recognised”.
He was responding to warnings from the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine who said that the 24-hour strike undertaken this morning by 2,000 workers at the National Ambulance Service, poses “a significant risk” to lives.
Deputy Nolan said that: “This strike is not a surprise, but it is the direct result of a government and HSE that have repeatedly failed to listen to the very people keeping our health service alive. Just as we saw with the fuel protestors, warnings were ignored, frustrations were allowed to build for years, and now patients are paying the price.”
“Many TDs, including those on the government benches, have been well aware for years that ambulance staff were reaching breaking point. The 2020 Roles and Responsibilities Review promised proper pay scales, recognition of advanced qualifications and a fair wage increase. Six years later, nothing has been delivered.”
“Despite enormous levels of professional burnout, staff have been patient, professional and reasonable, but they now feel that have been taken for granted.”
Deputy Nolan highlighted the added pressure already visible in the region, noting that Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise is currently experiencing exceptionally high patient admission numbers, with non-urgent cases facing significant delays in the Emergency Department.
Management there is actively urging people to use GP, pharmacist or out-of-hours services instead.
“This is the reality on the ground right now, even before today’s strike. The system is already under strain and the government’s failure to resolve this long-running dispute is only making things worse for patients and their families in Offaly and across the Midlands”.
“I stand with the ambulance crews today. They deserve fair pay, proper recognition and safe working conditions. The government must immediately implement the 2020 review recommendations, engage meaningfully with the unions and end this completely avoidable crisis before further strikes take place,” Deputy Nolan said.
The HSE has warned it is very concerned about the significant impact the strike will have on ambulance services – and advised that people may need to consider making their own way to emergency departments over the course of the 24-hour stoppage.
Health Minister, Jennifer Caroll MacNeill, said that the action was “an industrial relations matter” where the recommendations of the Workplace Relations Commission did not get the support of ambulance workers .
“This needs to go back to the industrial relations structure that has serviced this State so well and where we can really deliver outcomes,” she said.
“But that is the process. And I don’t want to step across that as of course its an independent process.”