The lives of ambulance drivers and the patients they are transporting are being put at risk because staffing shortages in the service means many drivers are exhausted behind the wheel, it was claimed yesterday.
Pat Hanafin, chairman of the Ambulance Association of Ireland, said the short staffing was so chronic many ambulance drivers were working back-to-back shifts as well as their days off to keep the service afloat.
The shortages also meant ambulances at some stations were being left unmanned, he said.
"Every day in this country some ambulances are off the road because there are no crews for them. We are at crisis point," he added.
Asked what the impact of the shortages were on patients waiting for ambulances, he said: "If something major happened, the resources are so vulnerable it would be frightening to see what the outcome would be."
Mr Hanafin said the Health Service Executive (HSE) had acknowledged the problem and agreed to recruit up to 340 more personnel to the ambulance service earlier this year. But just when the first of these recruits were due to join the service in recent weeks they were stopped due to the HSE's embargo on recruitment, he said.
But the HSE denied this last night. It said the staff were awaiting Garda clearance before being taken on.
Mr Hanafin said that while those in the service were waiting for the new recruits they were working extremely long hours.
"The average person in the ambulance service at the moment is putting in an average of 60-80 hours a week to keep the service afloat . . . we told the HSE earlier this year that people can do these overtime hours for only so long. They can't continue. Staff are burnt out. They are going off with back injuries and with stress," he continued.
He added that his association found the HSE very difficult to deal with to get the issue sorted. "I am totally dissatisfied with the way the whole service is being run since it was taken over by the HSE under Prof Drumm. Things have got worse and not better," he said.
He added that Prof Drumm had been invited to the Ambulance Association of Ireland's annual conference in Dingle, Co Kerry, next weekend but was unable to attend due to other commitments. He said the conference would discuss what actions are now open to the ambulance drivers to have their concerns addressed.
The HSE said last night the appointment of new personnel to the ambulance service, following Garda clearance, would be looked at even though it had imposed a ban on recruitment. It said it had accepted there may be limited critical or exceptional circumstances where the appointment of front-line service staff may be necessary even while the ban is in place.
It also insisted it was continuing to work to improve the ambulance service.
"The HSE is committed to expanding and developing the national ambulance service. The recruitment of new and trainee staff is part of this development and that process is continuing.
"Three recruitment competitions have been held to date this year and 37 new staff have been offered and have accepted these new positions. The HSE is currently in the final stages of appointing these individuals [ this includes Garda clearance which on average takes up to 30 days]. There has been no delay," it said.
It also said 65 new ambulances had recently been purchased and were now being put into operation.