Ambulance crews will go to 999 calls in breaks – for £100 a time

AN interim deal has been reached with two of the ambulance unions, paving the way for a final settlement in the long-running dispute over payments to crews responding to emergency calls during their meal breaks.

Last month hopes of an agreement were dashed when members of Unite and Unison, which represent the majority of paramedic crews, turned down the latest offer from the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) .

But it was revealed yesterday that leading officials of both unions have agreed to accept a revised offer – £100 for responding to each emergency life-threatening call – while talks continue to find a full resolution to the bitter dispute. The temporary payment is double the last offer from management.

The dispute flared following the furore over the death of Mandy Mathieson last October at her home in the Speyside village of Tomintoul. An ambulance technician – on duty just 800 yards from her home – chose not to respond to an emergency call.

Politicians and Scotland’s main patients’ association warned more patients could die unless a settlement was reached.

John Gallacher, Unite’s Scottish ambulance service convener, said last night: “An interim arrangement will be put in place, covering until the end of December, where staff will be required to be available during their rest periods to attend Category A calls and be paid £100 for each call out.

“In addition, they will receive a pro-rata payment of an additional £250 for a full year.”

Mr Gallacher stressed: “The talks will go on while that interim arrangement is in place. Those negotiations are on going and they started with the management today. We will be meeting the management again because we want to get a robust system in place to ensure that it’s going to work.”

He explained: “There will be a three month trial of this interim arrangement and, at the end of December, the respective unions will ballot our members. During that three months we will try and resolve any outstanding issues in the hope that a permanent arrangement can be entered into.

“That permanent arrangement might be the temporary arrangement or a dilution or improvement on that. That’s what the negotiations will determine.”

Mr Gallacher said the payment would cover Category A calls – emergency life threatening calls – but would not cover the entire range of 999 calls.

Murdo Fraser, the Conservative health spokesman, said: “This is very welcome news, as this farcical situation had dragged on for long enough. The SNP Government gave the impression that they just wanted the whole situation to go away, despite us and others raising the issue at First Minister’s Questions and elsewhere.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said that Nicola Sturgeon, cabinet secretary for health, met with Ambulance Service management and unions on 29 September and would be updating Parliament on the issue in a statement today. Last month almost 80 per cent of Unison and Unite members rejected the revised offer of a £50 payment for each call-out, on top of an annual payment of £250.