Labor promises paramedic hiring spree, ambulance station upgrades

The policy would result in a mass hiring of paramedics - 88 permanent staff recruited by 2025 and 168 by 2032 - and a $45 million commitment to upgrade ambulance stations statewide.

The community paramedic program would also be expanded to eight new locations.

Labor health spokeswoman Anita Dow said the opposition was "done with talking", blasting inaction on recommendations made by the government-commissioned review, which was published late 2023.

"It's time for a better future in Tasmania and it's time for a better future for our paramedics," Ms Dow said.

"You shouldn't have to wait hours, often in pain and discomfort in the distress of your family, for an ambulance to come to your place to pick you up.

"You shouldn't have to be ramped at one of our major hospitals. We know that the devastating consequences that that's had for many Tasmanian families and individuals, and also for our healthcare workers."

HACSU industrial manager Lucas Digney said the health system as a whole was in a sorry state, with paramedics "bearing the brunt" of the crisis.

"As it currently stands, we see staff shortages across every region in Tasmania every day," Mr Digney said.

"What we see is paramedics working so much overtime, that they're unable to fill their regular shifts because they're being overworked.

"What we need to see is an investment across the board."

Mr Digney said there was no shortage of graduate paramedics to hire, and combined with the promised investment in equipment and infrastructure the Labor policy would drive down ambulance wait times.

The Review of Government Services report by the Productivity Commission showed Tasmanian ambulances took an average of 14.5 minutes to respond to a code one callout in 2022-23, up from 11 minutes 10 years ago.

Mr Digney said while the policy would not be a panacea for the state's ailing health system, it would be a step towards to restoring the ambulance service to "what it should be".

"This goes a long way to fix the erosion in the ambulance service, but it doesn't necessarily fix the crisis that we see in the broader health system," he said.

"We also need a massive investment in allied health professionals, and we need investments in nurses and doctors and we need more capacity in our hospitals, particularly in Launceston and Hobart."

Labor leader Rebecca White said the party would take urgent action if elected.

"After 10 years of a Liberal government, ambulance ramping has doubled," Ms White said.

"This means that more Tasmanians are waiting for longer for an ambulance, and paramedics are stuck at a hospital rather than being in their local community responding in a timely way to provide the care that we know they desperately want to provide."

Chief executive officer of Health Consumers Tasmania - a representative body for patients, carers and communities - Bruce Levett spoke in favour of Labor's health policies.

Mr Levett said the promise of more paramedics, hot on the heels of an announcement that Labor would also fund free health checks, was good news for the community.

However, Premier Jeremy Rockliff said Labor were "very late to the party" with the policy, and said it failed to address concerns in a timely manner.

"Tasmanians want action now when it comes to health," Mr Rockliff said.

"That's why we've been building up our nursing workforce, building up our paramedic workforce.

"We've been continuing to invest in those key areas of frontline health - nurses, doctors, paramedics, and more hospital infrastructure across the state, including ambulance stations."