Tasmanians deserve to have an ambulance service that meets their needs, and paramedics deserve to be safe and supported at work. That’s why today the Greens are calling on both the Liberal and Labor parties to make a commitment to ending single response shifts for paramedics if they form government.
We’re hearing from paramedics in both cities and regional areas that over the past few years they’ve had to work an increasing number of shifts alone. They say short staffing has become so bad that working shifts by themselves is common.
Paramedics do the best they can, but they can’t do the job of two people at once. Single response shifts often mean paramedics can’t give the care patients need – either at a scene itself, or when taking them to hospital. After all, if you’re driving an ambulance, you can’t properly monitor a patient that’s in the back.
Having paramedics on shift alone doesn’t just lead to greater risk to patients. It’s also creating an unbearable burden for staff. Solo shifts add to workload, fatigue, and stress. And they can be unsafe too, especially during night shifts. Nobody should have to work under these appalling conditions.
We know from paramedics that single response shifts are on the rise, but absurdly even the government doesn’t know exactly how frequently this is happening. When the Greens tried to get this data in Budget Estimates last year, we were told the information was not available “due to system limitations and reliance on paper-based shift documentation.”
The lack of data means it’s impossible to know exactly what it would take to fix this problem. But it should be easy for both major parties to agree that our ambulance service cannot continue to rely on a practice that results in higher risks and worse outcomes for both patients and staff.
We call on the Liberal and Labor parties to commit to ending single response shifts for paramedics if they form government. We know getting rid of this practice won’t happen overnight, but for the sake of our community and our paramedics it absolutely must happen.
