Three ambulance men who refused to transfer a seriously ill child from Limerick to Dublin have been suspended for a fortnight without pay by the MidWestern Health Board (MWHB).
It is understood the men were asked to undertake the trip two hours from the end of their shift on the night of Monday, December 13th. They were "put off duty" immediately after the incident. Another crew later transferred the Ennis, Co Clare boy "in the care of a doctor to Beaumont Hospital", the board said. Immediately after the incident, a union spokesman said two of the three men had refused to transfer the child for "personal reasons" and he believed the third was not asked to travel to Dublin. He said the incident was not connected to an ongoing unofficial dispute between the health board and ambulance staff in Co Clare.
The MWHB announced yesterday that it had concluded a disciplinary investigation into the incident. It said the men had been accompanied by their union representative when interviewed and submissions by their union were fully taken into account in its decision.
