Let ambulance crews rest or risk industrial action, GMB warns

The Scottish Ambulance Service must urgently deliver proper rest breaks for crews or risk industrial action, GMB Scotland has warned.

The union secured an emergency motion at the STUC Congress today to warn lives could be lost because 999 crews are exhausted and stressed because of missed and interrupted breaks.

GMB Scotland, the biggest union in the Scottish Ambulance Service, warns crews are being pushed too far as they are asked to work up to ten hours without a break.

Staff unions are currently balloting members on their willingness to take industrial action to secure breaks.

Linda Carr-Pollock, a GMB delegate and rep in NHS Scotland, told delegates in Dundee that crews fear the safety of staff, patients and other road users is at risk because they are unable to take a break during gruelling, non-stop shifts.

She said: “Like all frontline healthcare workers, the driving purpose of ambulance crews is to save lives and care for patients. They are more than willing to forgo breaks to do that when necessary but, in recent years, this has become standard practice.

"Staff are working hour after hour, under great stress, attending emergency calls without a break.

“It’s relentless and made worse by the fact that staff are frequently expected to work beyond the end of their shift. It isn’t just unfair, it’s dangerous.

“Last week, our members began a consultative ballot on industrial action. That is no easy step for health workers to take and is a clear indication of how angry and exhausted they have become. They have hit their limit.”

Crews are entitled to a 45-minute break in a 12-hour shift but are often asked to work through them or cut them short.

GMB Scotland and other staff unions are urging managers to introduce and enforce rotas ensuring that no ambulance crew member is asked to work more than six hours before getting a break that could only be interrupted to respond to a life-threatening emergency call.

The issue has been raised many times in recent years but initiatives aimed at protecting rest time for staff have faltered.

GMB Scotland said crews were encouraged to work through breaks during Covid because of the national emergency but the pressure has never eased.

Giving evidence to the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry, the union told how the ambulance service was short staffed during the pandemic because workers were ill, shielding or had care duties meaning crews were encouraged to work through breaks and postpone annual leave.

Carr-Pollock told delegates on the second day of the Congress in the Caird Hall, that lessons from the pandemic have not been learned.

She said: “Scottish Ambulance Service staff were among the key workers on the frontline of our public services in the depths of the pandemic.

“If there was one lesson to be learned from those times it was to properly value our health workers, not pay lip service to them while refusing to properly recognise their work and allowing their service to slip into crisis.”

The GMB Scotland emergency motion urging the Scottish  Ambulance Service to secure proper rest breaks for crews was unanimously supported by other unions at the STUC Congress.