Money, Money, Money
As regular readers will know there has been a long running dispute about 'rest breaks' - and whether ambulance crews should respond at all times to an emergency 999 call.
The existing Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) policy up to November 2011 - encouraged staff to give up their entitlement to an 'uninterrupted' rest break - in return for a payment of £250 a year - plus £5 for every time their break was disturbed.
The SAS has since confirmed that the number of rest breaks disturbed in 2010 was 2248 - or roughly once per year on average for each member of staff - of whom there are 2445 apparently.
See previous post dated December 20th 2011 - 'And The Weasel Goes To.....'
Because of the inability of the SAS and the trade unions to resolve their differences - the Scottish Government and Health Secretary - Nicola Sturgeon - stepped in an 'imposed' a temporary solution - pending further negotiations.
The result of those talks was announced during the week - and the basis of the new deal is that all ambulance staff will receive a one-off payment of £1,500 - plus an extra £5 every time their restbreak is disturbed.
So 2445 x £1,500 = £3,667,500 plus 2248 disturbed rest breaks (using 2010 figures) x £100 = £224,800 or £3,892,300 - to settle the dispute this year.
Now what the SAS has not explained to me or anyone else is the cost of the old (2010) policy - compared to the cost of the new policy.
I can see the logic behind a big increase in the payment for someone's rest break being disturbed - twenty fold from £5 to £100 a time - which compensates people for being flexible on the basis that those disturbed the most - get a greater reward.
But what I'm not so convinced about is that handing over a one-off payment of £3.7 million - represents very good value for public money.
If people are being adequately compensated in the future - what is the point of spending £1,500 or £3.7 million in a one-off 'buy out'?
I will need to ponder that question over the holidays - and see if I can come up with a sensible answer.
