'This is how you break people': Ambo details pressure of the job

Toby Rowallan appeared before a parliamentary committee examining transfer of care delays between paramedics and emergency departments in state hospitals.

He said paramedics regularly called in sick or worked reduced hours due to the stress associated with ramping which, in turn, forced their colleagues to work long hours without breaks.

"This is how you break people," Mr Rowallan said.

"This intensity, this pressure is immensely fatiguing.

"Having people call in sick is a very regular occurrence and it's because of the intensity of the shifts that we work.

"When you are short-staffed, either in the communication centre or on the road or both, that just increases the pressure and increases the likelihood that you will make a mistake."

He said Ambulance Tasmania had taken measures to improve mental health support for paramedics over recent years.

"But really the thing that addresses these issues is staffing and more resources, not psychological support," Mr Rowallan said.

"We need to do as much as we possibly can to support staff in dealing with these difficult situations because it's not likely to get much easier anytime soon."

He said on Monday night, there were seven to eight priority one calls were delayed on Monday night, with one case waiting 25 minutes for an ambulance to be dispatched when it should have been dispatched immediately.

Priority two cases were also delayed until an ambulance was available to send, Mr Rowallan said.

"There was a significant amount of cases that did wait before I had someone to send and this is not a once in a month occurrence," he said.

"This is a near daily occurrence."

Committee chairwoman Rosalie Woodruff said it was distressing to hear from Ambulance Tasmania dispatchers and paramedics about the severe impact that ambulance ramping and understaffing were having on triple-zero response times.

"When a patient calls triple-zero, and the expert staff recognise they are a priority emergency case, its critical an ambulance is sent to assist immediately," she said.

"Shockingly though, were hearing from staff and the community that this is often not happening, with delays to an emergency response happening multiple times a day."

Health Minister Guy Barnett said an extra 240 paramedics had been employed in Tasmania since the Liberals took government in 2014.

Hearings will resume in February with representatives from the Health Department and Ambulance Tasmania scheduled to appear before the committee.