Donegal paramedics on strike ‘are willing to keep going until demands are met’
Ambulance crews are striking across Donegal, including Letterkenny, Ballyshannon, Carndonagh, Dungloe, Donegal Town, Killybegs and Stranorlar
Members of the National Ambulance Service in Donegal continue to stand firm on their demands.
The strike has arisen as pay has not increased to match the clinical responsibilities of paramedics.
Ambulance crews are striking across Donegal, including Letterkenny, Ballyshannon, Carndonagh, Dungloe, Donegal Town, Killybegs and Stranorlar. Emergency services must provide cover during strike action, leaving just three ambulances to respond to emergencies in the county.
The protest began at 8am today and is intended to last 24 hours. However, paramedic Peter Sweeney, who is part of the strike at Letterkenny University Hospital, said: “We are willing to keep going until demands are met.
“This service has gone from predominantly a Patient Transport Service (PTS) to dealing with emergency calls all of the time,” Mr Sweeney continues. “We have been upskilling as paramedics, doing degrees, and advanced paramedics are doing master's degrees and we haven’t been recompensed for it.
“Medications have been added, skills have been added and there is no change in money. All we want is the money that we are owed to bring us up to scratch with other services within the HSE. We are willing to keep going until demands are met and recognise us for the training and upskilling we have been doing over the years.”
According to SIPTU and UNITE, HSE salary scales don’t reflect the increased responsibilities and workload and a 5% increase, which was recommended under the benchmarking II process, has not been delivered.
Nationally, there is 46% cover on Tuesday, in case of emergencies. The 999 or 112 phone service will remain fully operational throughout the strikes.
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