Waterford TD said paramedic morale is ‘on the floor’ following ballot vote

Waterford TD and Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health, David Cullinane TD, has said a rejection of changes to the National Ambulance Service by unions shows paramedic morale is “on the floor.” 

Deputy Cullinane said members of SIPTU and UNITE rejected by 70% proposed changes to paramedics' roles and responsibility review.

He said patient safety was the main factor for members.

"This continued failure is putting lives at risk. This risk is felt most in our rural communities. 

"The result of this ballot clearly demonstrates that staff morale is on the floor. The Minister now needs to intervene and listen to those on the front line.

He said the minister needs to properly fund the training and deployment of specialist paramedics, as well as the retention of the Emerging Threats Unit.

“It is an indictment of the government’s failure to safely staff and properly fund the Ambulance Service that the HSE has reduced its response time targets since 2020, rather than improve the service to actually meet those targets.

"The Ambulance Service is still missing the 2020 target of 80% of cardiac incidents responded to in under 19 minutes, and is nowhere near responding to 80% of all other life-threatening incidents within 19 minutes.

“The Oireachtas Health committee needs to urgently hear from the Director of the NAS and senior management, and this will happen in the coming weeks,” said Deputy Cullinane.

“Paramedics and EMTs are the backbone of our emergency response services. They work tirelessly to save lives, but are rewarded with burnout, being overworked and undersupported.

“Despite the need for more paramedics and specialist paramedics, the 2025 HSE Service Plan has no budget to train advanced paramedics this year. The NAS is also not funded to train enough workers to meet their strategic workforce plan, which outlines a need to double the paramedic and EMT workforce.

“The decision to reduce the number of paramedics or advanced paramedics on call-outs from two to one was a key factor in the rejection of the proposed changes as well as staff burnout and late finishes due to receiving call-outs at the tail end of a shift.

“The result of this ballot clearly shows that paramedics’ primary concern is patient safety and a complete lack of confidence in changes proposed by senior management,” said Deputy Cullinane.