A Perthshire paramedic has claimed continued criticism of his service over the “tea break” row is ill-informed and causing a crisis in morale.
The worker, who asked not to be named, was backed in his assessment by the GMB union, which represents over 800 Scottish Ambulance Service staff.
His comments came after Crieff youngster Martyn Gray died after falling ill at home. An ambulance took 48 minutes to reach the three-year-old while the local service, 10 minutes away, was on an unpaid break.
Paramedics have said the break system 45 minutes unpaid during which they will not be contacted by the central control room was imposed upon them.
They can waive undisturbed breaks for a yearly payment of £250, a fraction of the amount available in England.
The paramedic said, “It is an unpaid break enforced by the Scottish Ambulance Service several years ago that the staff did not want or, indeed, ask for it was negotiated by the unions and our managers.
“Staff are not insured to respond to calls in this very short unpaid break.
“Staff were assured when this was enforced that resources and vehicles from other areas would be sent in to cover, but this rarely happens.
“People are all too quick to blame us but there is an ignorance of the actual policies in place.
“We are in a stressful, highly-critical job that only a certain type of person can do and over 99% of the time we do a tremendous job and are rarely commended on the good we do.
“When you see an accident report in the paper, it always says, ‘taken to hospital’ by whom? A passing bus or lorry?
“There is never a report of all the highly-skilled clinicians at the scene who save lives every day and care for the general public of Scotland, and do it well.
“We’re not afforded the luxury of making a mistake but we are only human and we are affected by the continual criticism.
“The staff do their best to care for the public and show compassion and empathy, acting as counsellors, midwives, nurses, marriage guidance counsellors, social workers and saving lives every day.
“We deal with I don’t know how many daily calls and save many lives with little or no support from our managers and when things do go wrong they do nothing to support their staff.
“We are expected to be the front line of emergency care using sub-standard vehicles and equipment on a regular basis.”
The Scottish Government has promised talks on the matter.
Mick Conroy, senior organiser with the GMB Scotland, held meetings with shop stewards in Dundee on Wednesday, during which the issue was discussed.
“We will be at the talks with the Scottish Government because people will continue to die and it won’t be the fault of the GMB members,” he said.
One senior shop steward called for further meetings with the ambulance service and Scottish Government.
He said, “We need to get the managers to come to a new agreement before this happens again. If you offer more pay for meal breaks, most would take it because they do want to work and help people but they can’t work for free.
“If resources were run better then this kind of thing wouldn’t happen.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said, “Ambulance crews are trained to a very high standard of specialist clinical skills and operate with equipment and vehicles that are entirely fit for purpose.
“They respond to over 600,000 emergencies in Scotland every year, in often very difficult and challenging circumstances.
“The Scottish Ambulance Service must comply with the UK Agenda for Change policy.
“This is a complex issue and we are in discussion with the Scottish Government to find a solution to the challenges that the policy creates.”