Ambulance staff in dispute over move to new €5m base in Merlin Park
An industrial dispute is preventing ambulance staff from moving into a new ambulance base at Merlin Park Hospital that cost almost €5m to build.
JJ McGowan, Chief Ambulance Officer with HSE West, said that the new ambulance base was completed recently.
He told the HSE West Regional Health Forum that the new facility was operational but “we can’t get the staff to move into it”.
Mr McGowan said that there were a number of industrial relations issues that were preventing staff from moving into the new base, which cost HSE Estates €4.9m to build.
Two efforts were made to resolve the matters, including local negotiation, which failed, and the matter would now be referred to the Workplace Relations Commission, he said.
Mr McGowan said that the trade union SIPTU had advised the National Ambulance Service that its members “are seeking some form of compensation to move from the current base (at UHG) to the new purpose-built facility”.
Though he conceded to Councillor John Connolly (FF) that there was national precedent for this type of payment, Mr McGowan said: “The HSE is not in a position to accede to this request, and consequently the move to the new ambulance base has become the subject of an industrial dispute which has been referred to WRC.”
He said that this process was ongoing and he was not in a position to give a definitive date for “the full operationalisation of the new ambulance base in Galway”.
In his written reply to Cllr Connolly, Mr McGowan said that the base was not yet operational, but he confirmed it was operational during a verbal update at the Regional Forum meeting.
Cllr Connolly said it was disappointing that a date for the official opening of a facility that cost €4.9 million could not be provided.
Mr McGowan said the Health and Safety Authority had inspected the current facility and “found that it complies with basic regulations”, but the HSE “believes that our staff should have access to a new and purpose-built facility that will support their wellbeing and delivery of services in Galway well into the future”.
At the moment, ambulance crews operate from “Third World” conditions in the 1950s Fever Hospital building – which they described as a “kip”.
Meanwhile, Tony Canavan, CEO of Saolta University Healthcare Group, has confirmed that more than €12m was paid to private ambulance operators over the past three years.
Mr Canavan was responding to a question tabled by Cllr Connolly, and said that the Saolta outlay on private ambulances was €4.2m, €4m and €4.5m in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively.
Cllr Connolly said that he hoped no staff members within the ambulance service are displaced by the use of private operators.
Mr Canavan said that private ambulances were used mostly to transport patients from acute hospitals to nursing homes, which freed up beds.