First ambulance strike in nearly 30 years looms

SCOTLAND’S ambulance workers are threatening their first nationwide strike in nearly 30 years, claiming the under-resourced service puts patient safety at risk.

A Scotland-wide ballot ahead of a crucial meeting this week with the Scottish Ambulance Service could lead to the first national strike since the long and bitter dispute of 1989, when the Army was called in to cover emergencies.

The Unite union is demanding an end to ‘on call’ working, which it claims has seen ambulance crews working up to 36-hour shifts.

Unite says the Scottish Government must invest an extra £20 million a year to eradicate the practice, while more resources are vital to tackle delays in responding to emergency calls. Jamie McNamee, national convener of the union that represents 1,400 of the 4,500-strong ambulance service workforce, said a Scotland-wide strike could be on the cards unless concerns are addressed, and claimed the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) was trying to provide 24/7 cover on a peppercorn investment.

He said: ‘We’re looking for appropriate investment from the Scottish Government to remove on-call working. In areas where the workload has increased due to centralisation of services, we require appropriate funding to meet our day-to-day workloads, because patient safety is being put at risk.’

The union says being ‘on call’ saw one two-person crew in Moray work a 36-hour shift and another, in Sutherland, a 23-hour shift.

Mr McNamee said: ‘Due to centralisation of services in Glasgow alone, we’ve lost 50 per cent of our capacity. It used to take 54 minutes to complete a 999 call. It now takes an hour and 35 minutes.’

In the past week, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman has upheld three complaints against the overstretched ambulance service, including a patient with multiple fractures who fell into a coma after treatment was delayed, and another who had to wait 50 minutes for an ambulance after suffering a stroke at work.

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: ‘We are training 1,000 paramedics up to 2021, ensuring we can reduce oncall working.’