Tipperary TD says 'ongoing ambulance staff issues putting patient health at risk'

Ongoing staffing issues in the National Ambulance Service are causing a threat to patient health and well-being and a plummeting morale within the Ambulance Service, according to Tipperary TD Michael Lowry.

Reports in recent days reveal that paramedics in the south have been informed of new staffing arrangements whereby an ICO (Intermediary Care Operative) will be assigned to work with a fully trained paramedics on an ambulance, he said.

"Up to now all ambulances were staffed with two paramedics. Refusal by paramedics to accept this new system carries the risk of having their annual leave postponed," he said.

ICOs are trained over a six-week period, whereas paramedic training takes three years to complete.

"The HSE deems that an individual who has undergone a six-week training course is of an acceptable standard to replace a fully qualified and experienced paramedic," he said.

The Independent TD said that this system was designed to put more ambulances on the road to address the chronic pressure on the understaffed Ambulance Service.

At present ambulances are being called upon to attend calls miles away from their bases. They crisscross the country, drive exhaustive distances and are consistently stood down or diverted elsewhere when another emergency arises or another ambulance ends up closer to the original call. The system, as it stands, is chaotic and unworkable, he said.

The Thurles-based TD said that in October 2021 he highlighted in the Dáil the fact that the Ambulance Service in Ireland was in a serious state of disarray.

"The following month I again raised the issue, this time to say that the Health and Safety of paramedics was being blatantly ignored due to the excessive distances they were travelling and hours they were working. Now it appears that patient safety is being put at risk," said Deputy Lowry.

He said that the National Ambulance Service and the HSE seemed to think that by placing healthcare workers who had been trained for just six weeks on ambulance crews and by threatening over-worked paramedics with postponement of accumulated leave if they did not agree will help address the problem.

"This beggars belief," said Deputy Lowry.

He said that addressing the glaring problem of why people were reluctant to qualify and take up work as a paramedic would prove more worthwhile.

As it stands, the starting salary is less than €28,000. Newly qualified paramedics could be sent to any part of the country but accommodation will not be provided or paid for them. Many cannot afford the cost of accommodation so are forced to drive to wherever they are based and they are never given certainty on where that will be, he said.

"When I raised this issue in the Dail I called for an independent review of the Ambulance Service. The ambulance control system and the criteria used to determine the urgency of a call needs to be closely scrutinised.

"The inability of exhausted paramedics to adhere to required health and safety regulations must be examined and rectified.

"The satellite navigation systems in ambulances have to be updated. The endless hours ambulances spent waiting to handover patients at Emergency Departments has to be remedied.

"The shortfall in qualified staffing needs to be addressed. NASRA has to be recognised," said Deputy Lowry.

"Promised resources, not unacceptable and unworkable solutions, must be delivered’ concludes Deputy Lowry.