Eden ambulance staff describe cramped working conditions

One of a team of five ambulance personnel based out of one small room in Edenderry has this week warned he and his colleagues will not be there next year if changes are not made to give them proper facilities. Since January 2011 Edenderry's ambulance service has operated on a twelve-hour basis with only a temporary base in a room given to them in Ofalia House. One year later staff members have taken the issue to their union, warning that something has to be done. Describing their base as a "shoebox", a team member described how male and female workers share the 10" by 12" room for twelve hours at a time. The windowless room contains two armchairs, a television over a kitchen table and chairs, basic kitchen facilities, a shared bathroom and a small storage room. "It's a restroom, it's a kitchen, it's everything," the team member said. "If we need ventilation we have to open the door." He added that there aren't proper washing facilities for washing uniforms should the team attend a messy call, and that if the ambulance needed to be cleaned after a similar call a trip to the Tullamore ambulance base is necessary. Ambulance staff based in Tullamore have an office, kitchen, rest room, training room, sluice room with proper sinks and washer/driers, computer facilities and separate male and female locker and storate rooms. "Compared to that, we've nothing," the Edenderry-based ambulance worker said. He said he and his male and female colleagues went to Edenderry twelve months ago on the understanding they would get proper facilities. One year on they've asked their union to help. "It's down to the union now," he said. "We've told them enough is enough. We need facilities." Last week the Offaly Independent reported details of a letter from the Director of the HSE's National Ambulance Service Robert Morton, confirming the organisation has had discussions with the council regarding sharing Edenderry's state-of-the-art fire station and that the ambulance service had advanced a proposal to identify how any costs incurred by the local authority would be addressed by the HSE. This week Edenderry councillor Noel Cribbin has said council management need to "pull in their horns" on the issue and "try and be helpful to the services that we have here in Edenderry and try and retain them". He added that confirmation from ambulance chief Robert Morton regarding how costs incurred would be addressed gives Offaly County Council "no earthly reason not to co-operate" on the shared facility proposal. Cllr Cribbin continued that he doesn't blame ambulance staff for moving the issue to the next level by taking it to their union. "They're looking for proper working conditions, which they're entitled to," he said, adding that credit was due to them for working from the temporary base for a year. "If the HSE can't come up with that well then they're going to revert back to the old way, back to Tullamore hospital. If the service goes back to Tullamore, who's to say will we ever get it back again? It could be gone for good and all. We have very few services here. Any service that's worth having is worth keeping. "There's no earthly reason why Offaly County Council can't play ball on a temporary basis. The fire crew have written a letter and all signed it and they have no problem with the two being there. The two of them work side by side, so why can't they live in the one building?" he asked. The councillor added that the service was very much necessary for Edenderry, with something in the region of 650 callouts last year and an estimated twelve to 15 people still alive who wouldn't have survived had an ambulance had to make the trip from Tullamore.