A group of 69 newly qualified paramedics have been told they will be offered permanent contracts by the National Ambulance Service (NAS) in May without the need to interview for the positions.
The move has been welcomed by trade union Siptu which had been critical of what it regarded as the service’s previous abandonment of an understanding that all graduates would automatically be offered permanent positions.
The paramedics involved had received a letter in December telling them they would all receive permanent contracts, with a likely start date of December 29th, if they obtained the required mark in their final exams.
However, this changed in subsequent communications, with the paramedics given short term contracts and told they would need to apply for roles in areas where there were vacancies with no guarantees regarding whether the work would be close to where they lived.
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After a meeting on Tuesday between management and the two unions involved, Siptu and Unite, NAS director Robert Morton wrote to those affected on Wednesday. He said they would all get contracts and efforts would be made to provide offers in their desired locations. This, he stressed, would depend on the availability of funded vacancies.
Where posts are oversubscribed, he said, offers would be made based on the candidate’s original recruitment panel placement, with remaining candidates offered positions as close to the same location as possible.
Morton said there will be a month-long window for existing permanent staff to request relocation within the service before the recruitment takes place. Offers to the newly qualified paramedics will be made in the week of May 11th.
The newly qualified paramedics have been given further short-term contracts to take them up to that time. Overall, Morton said, the service expects to have 200 vacancies to fill this year.
The move was welcomed by Siptu sector organiser John McCamley, who said it would “go a long way to giving some stability and reassurance to our members as they embark on their careers as paramedics”.
Siptu and Unite said a ballot for industrial action linked to wider pay and grading issues among NAS staff would continue. It is due to conclude at the end of this month.
Unite’s Eoin Drummey said NAS should abandon what he described as its “piecemeal” approach to industrial relations and negotiate a resolution to the dispute, which relates to the implementation of a 2020 document entitled Roles and Responsibilities Review.
The issues involved have been the subject of repeated talks and more than one set of settlement proposals, with both unions recommending acceptance of a deal last year. However, this was rejected when their members were balloted.
