Siptu to ballot in protest at plans for ambulance service

Members of the trade union Siptu working in the Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) are to ballot for industrial action in response to moves to transfer parts of the existing ambulance service to the HSE.

Siptu sector organiser Brendan O'Brien strongly criticised the announcement on Monday by Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan to move Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance service call and dispatch function to the control of the HSE from later this year.

He said management at Dublin City Council had failed to abide by local and national agreements and his members had been left with no option but to ballot for industrial action.

Mr Keegan said on Monday a new centre in Tallaght would provide unified call taking and dispatch which would address the weaknesses identified in a recent report by the health service watchdog Hiqa.

“It is quite clear that Hiqa have correctly identified an historic lack of co-operation and co-ordination between the two public service agencies charged with providing emergency ambulance services that is not sustainable. ”

“There’s no immediate change being implemented. We have agreed in principle with the HSE a way forward to address the weaknesses identified by Hiqa. There’s a process now to be gone through and there is provision for full consultation to be made in relation to the arrangements.”

“This is an issue where for too long, two agencies refused to address the issue. The relationship has been characterised by competition, inter services rivalries. Somebody has to intervene and say this is not good enough we need to put patients safety first.”

The move to transfer part of the Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance service to the HSE was defended by Minister for Health Leo Varadkar.

"I am a huge supporter of the Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance service and their crew who provide an excellent service to the people of Dublin alongside the (HSE) National Ambulance Service. They are all much admired by the community for the work they do. However, there is room for improvement and Dubliners deserve the best from their ambulance service," he said.

“The bodies which control the National Ambulance Service and Dublin Fire Brigade – the HSE and the four Dublin local authorities respectively – have come to an agreement to integrate their back office operations. It is vital that full consultation with unions now takes place over the six-month transition period, as set out under the Haddington Road agreement, before any new measures come into play. ”

Mr Varadkar said he would “not stand for a single Fire Brigade ambulance being taken out of service”.

He added: “If anything we may need more.”

The Department of the Environment said it had had discussions with Dublin City Council in relation to this issue and had “at all times emphasised the need to engage in detailed consultation with staff and their representatives on the implication of the proposed changes for the staff involved, as is required under the Haddington Road agreement”.

However Mr O’Brien said Siptu members considered Mr Keegan’s announcement to be a breach of the Haddington Road deal “ as there was no consultation or discussion with stakeholders prior to the decision being made”.