SIPTU is warning that morale among ambulance crews is at an all time low.
Members of the union are being balloted for industrial action over the next ten days after SIPTU said the HSE had failed to implement a series of reforms following the publication of a report in 2018.
The report was commissioned by the HSE, National Ambulance Service and SIPTU, however the union says the HSE have not acted on the recommendations which include revised pay scales and measures to tackle the recruitment and retention crisis.
Around 2,000 people are employed by the National Ambulance Service and SIPTU say that number will need to double in the coming years due to Ireland's ageing population.
Speaking to RedFM News, Ted Kenny from SIPTU says Ambulance crews went above and beyond the call of duty during the pandemic and are now feeling under-appreciated.
"Now you have the situation where paramedics have14/15 hour shifts, driving continuously around the country at calls. I mean, they could be dispatched today to take a patient to Dublin. And while they're in Dublin, they'll be test records in that Dublin area and that ambulance may very well have been sent from Cork to deliver a patient to Dublin.
"It's not attractive for people coming into the service. So I think if a concerted effort is done to address the issues of concern that are there, they will get a higher calibre of staff."
