SIPTU MEMBERS IN the National Ambulance Service are said to have voted “overwhelmingly” for industrial action, up to and including strike action.

SIPTU said the dispute is due to the HSE’s failure to implement the recommendations of an independent report on updating staff salary scales to reflect changes in their responsibilities and workload over the past two decades.

The Independent Review of Roles and Responsibilities report, published in May 2020, was to address these changes, including updating salary scales. 

But SIPTU has said its recommendations have yet to be implemented.

The dispute involves SIPTU members working as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT), Paramedics, Advanced Paramedics, Specialist Paramedics and Paramedic Supervisors. 

SIPTU Ambulance Sector Organiser, John McCamley, said today’s vote is an “indication of the depth of feeling within the service that their sacrifice and commitment over the last 20 years to the professionalisation and modernisation of the service have been forgotten about by the HSE”.

He noted that EMT and Paramedic grades have increased their responsibility for administering various medications by 89% and 83%, respectively, since 2011. 

McCamley added that operational practice guidelines for dealing with different incidents have also “increased dramatically over the years, including the need for additional training and qualifications”.

“SIPTU members working in the National Ambulance Service are highly trained and educated health professionals,” McCamley said. 

“They work in a largely autonomous and occasionally hazardous environment. 

“Our members have to exercise clinical judgement, deliver complex and lifesaving care, including the administration of medications. 

“They perform lifesaving interventions and make complex decisions about specific care pathways.”

McCamley said National Ambulance Service members are “asking that their training qualifications are respected and recognised in an appropriate grading and pay structure which takes account of the major workplace changes which have taken place over the last 20 years”.

He also called on the HSE to implement the recommendations of the independent report “without preconditions” and to “introduce enhanced pay scales which properly recognise the training and professional level at which our members are now carrying out their duties on a daily basis”.

In a statement issued this evening, the HSE said it was committed to further engagement with the workers but added that the action from SIPTU appears to go against a previous agreement. 

“The HSE remains committed to engagement through the dispute resolution processes set out in the Public Service Agreement 2024 – 2026 and calls upon both SIPTU and Unite to also commit to doing so.

“In this regard, the HSE’s position is that this industrial action is unwarranted and presents a potential for impact on service delivery to patients.

“The decision by SIPTU to ballot their members for industrial action would appear to be in contradiction to the provisions of the Public Service Agreement.”

The HSE cited section 4.4.2 of the agreement, which states: “The parties commit to remain in process with a view to concluding the Role and Responsibilities review in the National Ambulance Service.”