paramedics

[sunflower68]

...and is it true a paramedic who has an interrupted lunch break due to an emergency call gets �20 added to their pay?

[Golem]

When I was a paramedic in the UK five years ago we could claim �5.63 if we got called out during our 30 min lunch break. The reasoning behind this is that during a 12 hour shift the crew must be available every minute of the shift to respond to calls. The payment was designed to compensate medics who were unable to eat food they had spent money on and that became wasted due to a call e.g. a microwaved meal that becomes inedible. I honestly think I had more spoilt meals than edible ones. The whole issue of medics not getting a proper meal break was, is and will be for a long time to come, a huge labour issue. I would be surprised if it has risen that much in five years - but if it has, it just proves my point of how sensitive a subject it is.

[dan_999uk]

It depends on the individual service.

This is a very contentious issue - ambulance managers want crews to have unpaid meal breaks and yet keep the right to interrupt the meal break for an emergency call. Ambulance crews feel that if they aren't being paid then their meal breaks are their own time and the service should not disturb them.

In my service, if our unpaid meal break is interrupted we get ten quid. We also get stood down for another meal break.

The payment covers the cost of a spoiled meal.