AMBULANCE staff in north Tipperary are set to go on strike from Thursday morning in protest at a planned change to on-call arrangements for staff in Roscrea.
The dispute arose following the retirement in May of a nurse who worked as a second crew member with the ambulance service at Roscrea station.
Following the retirement of the nurse, who was not employed by the ambulance service, the Health Service Executive told staff it intended a change to its on-call service.
The change would mean that instead of having a paramedic in the station ready to respond to calls, two paramedics would be expected to respond to emergency calls from their homes, which staff claim will add an extra 25 minutes to response times.
Their union, Siptu, said members were shocked by the decision “to depart from established practice and to impose a roster which is detrimental to the needs of the service”.
Paramedics were balloted for industrial action last month after management announced plans to impose the new work rosters “unilaterally rather than address issues through normal industrial relations procedures”, Siptu said.
The strike is due to start on 12.01am on Thursday with staff from Nenagh and Thurles going out in support of their Roscrea colleagues.
The paramedics say they will continue to provide an emergency service, but “will not be carrying out other duties”.
The HSE said: “We are aware of an industrial relations issue and negotiations are ongoing.”