Ambulance Volunteers in Deloraine call on the Hodgman Liberal Government to conduct a review into the potential negative consequences of their decision to make Deloraine a Double Branch station.
Labor Leader Rebecca White said if Will Hodgman had been listening to the community he would know that turning Deloraine into a Double Branch Station would not double the services for the local community.
"In fact, it could see services diminish as the ambulance is used in the city to plug holes in a broken health system," Ms White said.
"Volunteers at the Deloraine Ambulance Station give their time to help support their local community and they have never been consulted about this operational change.
"Volunteers are worried that they will end up sent to cases across the North of the state which will leave them fatigued and unable to function effectively at their normal occupation. Even worse, it will leave their community without a local ambulance to respond to emergencies.
"I have been told by a number of the volunteers at the Deloraine Ambulance Station that they will resign if the Government fails to listen and fails to protect the community from a loss of coverage.
"Already this year the Deloraine ambulance has been sent to cover jobs in Launceston and Devonport on multiple occasions due to chronic ambulance ramping at the hospital. Each time this happens, the Deloraine community is left without a local ambulance response.
"If the Government was serious about supporting Deloraine, they could make sure there are enough paramedics in the city to meet the demand so that regional crews aren't constantly called in to plug the holes.
"Volunteers of the Deloraine Ambulance station have today launched a petition to help inform the community about what the change will mean and to demonstrate to the Government that they want their local service protected.
"These volunteers have worked tirelessly, some for over a decade, supporting their local area and Will Hodgman cannot ignore them," Ms White said.
Rebecca White MP
Labor Leader
