Labour Court calls for talks on Roscrea ambulance on-call roster

The Labour Court recommended that HSE West and the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union hold further talks on on-call working at Roscrea Ambulance Station, keeping the existing arrangements in place during discussions. The union sought to eliminate on-call work, citing safety concerns and disputing how the roster was introduced. HSE West said the roster had been agreed and that weekly on-call hours had fallen from 258 in 2002 to 24 in 2009. The Court said discussions should consider available resources, practices in other ambulance services and plans to phase out on-call work. Talks were to finish by the end of October 2009, with unresolved matters jointly referred back to the Court. The recommendation was signed on 7 September 2009.