Overtime sees paramedics earn €100k-plus

MORE than 100 paramedics are earning over €6 million in overtime sick cover every year — a figure which is trebling their basic pay.

Figures confirmed by the HSE at a briefing on ambulance reconfiguration plans show that 107 paramedics, advanced paramedics and their supervisors are each receiving in excess of €100,000 a year.

This is despite the basic wage of a paramedic being €36,000, an advanced paramedic €45,000 and a supervisor €53,000.

While a specific regional breakdown and a breakdown of the cost related to each group were requested, this information was not made available.

However, HSE national ambulance service director Robert Morton confirmed that a “disproportionate number” of these people were based in Cork and Kerry. This includes individuals who are earning up to €120,000 a year to cover their own and extra shifts which, it is argued, would otherwise be left empty.

The issue was previously highlighted in an internal HSE report on the HSE North West region, and specifically Donegal, which was obtained by the Irish Examiner earlier this year.

This highly critical document noted that excessive petrol card bills and overtime was being paid in Donegal in recent years, with rare cases where the cost appeared to be signed off by the same individual who received the payment.

However, while concerns were raised over how some of the funds were provided, in general, overtime work, annual leave cover and sick leave cover payments cannot be avoided due to staff shortages in the system.

The latest figures were released by senior HSE officials at the end of a fractious media briefing on controversial plans to significantly alter Cork and Kerry’s ambulance services next year.

Under the initiative, on-call paramedic hours will be cut, there will be less ambulances on the roads and an emphasis will be placed on first responder volunteers in rural communities.

The changes — bitterly opposed by some communities — will be implemented in North and East Cork in the first quarter of next year, before being rolled out across the two counties by the end of 2012.

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