"The 2,000 HSE ambulance service workers will begin a 24-hour work stoppage over pay from 8am on Tuesday. While Dublin will still have Dublin Fire Brigade ambulances to rely on, many other counties - where long journeys are sometimes required to get a patient to the nearest hospital - will be more vulnerable."
"The Taoiseach Michael Martin has urged unions representing paramedics to "enter into dialogue". The HSE said: "Any member of the public should contact 999 or 112 if someone is experiencing a life-threatening illness or injury.""
"A spokeswoman said the "999 phone service is fully operational and under the HSE's contingency plan, priority will be given to patients facing emergencies such as cardiac or respiratory arrest, and those experiencing serious trauma such as that arising from road traffic accidents"."
""The only way to resolve this is through dialogue, and exhausting the well-established industrial machinery of the State," the Taoiseach said, rejecting the idea that he should become personally involved. The State has always accepted that pay structures needed to be modernised, and it had offered, depending on grade, from 3pc to 14pc extra, linked to reform."
About 2,000 HSE ambulance service workers will start a 24-hour work stoppage over pay at 8am Tuesday. Dublin will still have Dublin Fire Brigade ambulances, but other counties may face greater vulnerability because patients sometimes require long journeys to reach the nearest hospital. The Taoiseach urged unions representing paramedics to enter into dialogue and use established industrial processes. The HSE said the public should call 999 or 112 for life-threatening illness or injury. The 999 service is fully operational under a contingency plan, with priority for emergencies such as cardiac or respiratory arrest and serious trauma from road traffic accidents. Sinn Féin said ambulance workers are on picket lines because government pay and conditions issues were allowed to persist for years, while the Taoiseach rejected claims as dishonest and distorted.
Read at Irish Independent
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