Health unions have welcomed a state government announcement that 35 new ambulance staff members will be employed, but say its not enough.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Health Minister Michael Ferguson announced on Friday that the government would fund two additional 24-hour ambulance crews in the state.
One crew will be based in Launceston and the second in greater Hobart.
Health and Community Services Union state secretary Tim Jacobson said the 35 extra full-time equivalent staff members “would not result in one extra ambulance on the road”.
“All it will do will probably relieve the extent to which there is overtime in the system because we know paramedics are working those hours at the moment and this is just converting those overtime hours to permanent positions,” he said.
Mr Ferguson said on Friday funding for Ambulance Tasmania would include the two new crews as well as better management of existing rosters.
”This is an early finding of the government’s review into ambulance services,” he said.
“The review will still be released in coming weeks, but after talking with staff and stakeholders yesterday, I decided that it was important to end the speculation around our plans to resource our paramedics in the face of growing demand.”
He said recruitment for the new positions would begin immediately.
The Australian Paramedics Association last week called on the government to fund an additional 107 salaried paramedics.
A statement from the association said there were a lack of resources at Ambulance Tasmania, declining volunteer numbers, high levels of stress and fatigue, and the slowest response times in the country.
“Tasmanian paramedics have taken their message directly to the state government to warn that a lack of resources combined with surging workloads have pushed Ambulance Tasmania to crisis point, with the end result being patients enduring lengthy waits for medical assistance,” association spokesman Steve Pearce said.
“Paramedics are reporting that they are being directed to work long hours along with unreasonable amounts of overtime in an attempt to cover staff shortages and plug rostering gaps. Even staff who are on leave are being called in to fill shifts.”