A shortfall of at least 50 paramedics in the region is putting lives at risk according to an Illawarra-based paramedic.
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Glenn Congram, NSW assistant secretary for the Australian Paramedics Association, said lack of front-line staff had led to a ‘’blow-out’’ in emergency response times.
Ageing communications equipment – including a failing GPS system – was also hampering paramedics’ efforts to get to patients as quickly as possible.
‘’We need an additional 500 paramedics across the state, including around 50 in the Illawarra Shoalhaven, right now,’’ Mr Congram said.
‘’That’s not even looking to the future – for instance in this region when Berry ambulance station opens we will need an extra 11 paramedics to staff that 24-hour station.
‘’Lack of staff means we’re not always able to get to patients as quickly as we’d like. A delay in treatment for some patients could be life-threatening.’’
Mr Congram said the problem was statewide, with a recent Federal Productivity Commission report revealing NSW Ambulance had one of the worst ambulance response rates in Australia.
Staffing and equipment issues were also impacting on paramedics, he added, with high levels of fatigue, stress and injury in the workforce.
‘’There’s been a major increase in fatigue for paramedics from Helensburgh to UIladulla,’’ Mr Congram said.
‘’The ambulance service may claim it’s meeting minimum operational levels each day, but those levels haven’t increased in the last 15 years. In that time the region’s population – and hence demand – has increased substantially.
‘’Staff aren’t getting meal breaks, and they’re being forced to do excessive overtime to cover the shortfall.’’
Mr Congram said paramedics continued to battle with inadequate radios, unreliable duress alarms, a failing GPS system and ‘’old and slow’’ laptop computers.
‘’The new mobile data terminals that were put in six months ago routinely cause paramedics to stop short of the correct address, or go way past it,’’ he said.
‘’The duress alarms that paramedics rely on if they are under attack only send police to the last known spot – even if the paramedics have moved on. And the laptops they use to obtain, and update, information constantly need rebooting.’’
However a NSW Ambulance spokesman said it had ‘’strategies in place to manage demand’’.
‘’The Illawarra region is fully staffed against its current staffing establishment. This includes the recent addition of 11 paramedics at Oak Flats Station.
‘’It is important to note NSW Ambulance operates a mobile workforce and that the closest available paramedic is always responded to a medical emergency.’’
The spokesman said in May 2016, the NSW Government announced the fast-tracking of $5.1 million in funding, which enabled 27 specialist paramedics to be recruited. in June 2016, the NSW Government announced funding of $12.8 million for an additional 85 frontline staff for NSW Ambulance.
He said NSW Ambulance had a number of duress systems paramedics could use and in the last two years had invested $900k in a black spot remediation program. A ‘’significant upgrade’’ to communications technology was also underway.
‘’NSW Ambulance uses the Telstra priority services, especially for emergency services and works with the NSW Telco Authority, which is rolling out a statewide Critical Communications Enhancement Program for all NSW Government agency radio networks.’’
Meantime, Health Infrastructure and NSW Ambulance were currently looking for a site for Berry’s ‘’first ever ambulance station’’.