Ambulance crews back nursing home picketers

AMBULANCE crews are refusing to transfer non-emergency patients from one of the country’s largest nursing homes as a two-month-long picket by former staff outside the centre continues.

The ambulance personnel employed by the South Eastern Health Board in Co Wexford yesterday officially notified the SEHB that they are no longer prepared to service the Spring Valley Nursing Home in Enniscorthy, unless they are responding to genuine

emergencies. They will not be available for routine transfers or non-emergency calls from the 50-bed nursing home, which has been the centre of a bitter protest over pay and conditions.