999 crews get £1,500 offer for tea-break call-outs

SCOTLAND’S patients’ watchdog has criticised the “obscene” £1,500 lump sum being offered to ambulance crews in an attempt to break the deadlock in the long-running dispute over staff being asked to respond to emergencies during their meal breaks.

Following unions’ rejection of earlier offers, ambulance service management have put forward a considerably enhanced package, with the backing of the Scottish Government, to end the stalemate.

Under the new offer, paramedics and technicians will receive a one-off payment of £1,500 – equivalent to six years’ annual payments in advance – plus a payment of £100 each time their rest break is interrupted. The offer will now be put to a ballot of union members in the new year.

But Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Scotland Patients Association, who has already warned that patients could die as the dispute drags on, condemned the Scottish Government’s decision to bankroll the offer at a time when austerity cuts have led to a virtual wage freeze for nurses and doctors and other staff across the health service.

And the brother of a woman whose death prompted calls for a change in the rules over rest breaks warned that the deal could lead to a “two-tier” response to medical emergencies.

The dispute first flared last year following the furore over the deaths of two patients, when the nearest ambulance crews failed to respond to 999 calls because they were on rest breaks.

In October 2010, Mandy Mathieson, 33, died of a heart attack at her home in the Speyside village of Tomintoul after an ambulance technician, on duty at the ambulance depot 800 yards from her home, refused to respond to the emergency call because he was on a tea break.

In April this year, the family of three-year-old Martyn Gray had to wait 48 minutes for paramedics to reach their home in Crieff, Perthshire, as they battled to resuscitate him after he became seriously ill at home.

An ambulance crew was less than ten minutes away, but they failed to respond as they were on a break.

Two months ago, after ambulance crews overwhelmingly rejected the revised offer of a £50 payment for each call-out, on top of an annual payment of £250, trade unions accepted an interim deal involving a £100 payment for responding to each “Category A” emergency life-threatening call while talks continued to find a full resolution to the bitter dispute.

But it has now been revealed that ambulance service management have put forward the considerably enhanced offer.

Last night, Ms Watt said: “I am completely gobsmacked. If the government can find that sort of money for ambulance crews, why can’t they find money for our nurses’ salaries. Why do we have a two-year freeze on pay increases on health service staff.

“If they can find extra money for payments to ambulance people – and I am not saying they are not due – why can’t they find money to fund pay rises for our nurses and our doctors.

“For the next two years they are getting only 1 per cent – and you can’t do that and then give all these guys all this money. That’s quite obscene. I find the whole thing bizarre.”

Ms Watt said she was also concerned that the cash being used to fund the potential settlement to the bitter 999 dispute – which will also involve a £100 payment per crew member for every meal break call-out – could lead to other NHS sectors being hit.

Ms Mathieson’s brother Charles, a firefighter with Grampian Fire and Rescue Service, also voiced his concerns about the new offer. He said that he regarded the one-off payment of £1,500 as “fair and reasonable.” But he warned that the £100 per call-out payment could lead to a “two-tier” response to medical emergencies.

“I think the £100 per call-out payment is way over the top,” he said. “And I am worried that the ambulance service could defer call-outs to save £200 a time – £100 per member of the two-person crew in every ambulance.

“This could lead to a sort of two-tier call-out system. My personal view is that if someone phones up 999, whether it’s somebody who has fallen and hurt themselves and they are in pain or they have had a funny turn or whatever, they should get an ambulance. You don’t want to prolong their agony.

“They should get an ambulance as soon as practically possible and I think that with this £100 payment only for category A calls, they [the ambulance management] are going to ask lot of questions before they send out crews.”

He added: “The ambulance crews should get their wages up as standard and some sort of disturbance payment.

“But the ambulance people are the ones who would know what’s best for them. I would like them to get extra money on their salary and then there’s no ifs or buts. If they are on their meal break they go, regardless.”

Members of the three ambulance unions – Unison, Unite and GMB – will be balloted on the improved offer and the results are expected to be announced on 6 January. It will be the third time ambulance workers will have voted on rest-break interruption payments.

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “A revised offer has been made to trade unions and we expect a formal response early in the new year. In the meantime, the current interim arrangements will continue to operate.”

A spokeswoman for health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said… “We believe this to be a very fair offer and hope for a successful outcome to the ballot. If agreed, this way forward will ensure patient safety is maintained and will strengthen SAS’s ability to serve the people of Scotland.”

She added: “The government has been working with the ambulance service and the unions to make sure that a deal is brokered.”

None of the unions is making any recommendations to their members about the latest offer.

A spokesman for John Gallacher, Unite’s Scottish ambulance service convener, said: “We often make a recommendation in these circumstances, but we are neither recommending that the offer should be rejected or accepted.”

He added: “The closing date for the ballot is 5 January and the result will be announced on 6 January.”

Mick Conroy, senior organiser with the GMB Scotland union, said the issue had never been about money.

“A real solution would be to have enough crews working to give everyone their break,” he said. “This has never been about money – they just want their breaks.”

Mr Conroy added: “There is no recommendation to members because of the money involved, so it is down to them.”

Scottish Conservative MSP, Murdo Fraser welcomed the potential breakthrough. He said: “This issue has been dragging on for far too long and this deal is to be welcomed, especially before Christmas. This will be both a morale-booster for staff and will no doubt help to avoid tragedies of where ambulances failed to turn up in time.”