APA (NSW) has warned that surging demand for ambulances is not being met by a corresponding increase in operational resource levels, putting pressure on NSW Ambulance paramedics and support staff.
New data from the NSW Bureau of Health Information reveals that there has been a 10 per cent increase in calls and a 9.7 per cent increase in responses in the April to June quarter.
Across the state, all ambulance response types recorded double digit growth.
Paramedics responded to nearly 310,000 calls for assistance in the quarter, with demand snowballing.
APA (NSW) President Chris Kastelan said all performance indicators and response times were headed into the red.
"We are very concerned that this increased demand is leading to poorer outcomes for the community, with slower response times and more pressure on already under-resourced, over-worked, and under-paid paramedics," Mr Kastelan said.
"We are stretched and near breaking point already, with fatigued staff suffering PTSD and burn out in an organisation that appears to be reactive rather than proactive on staff health and well-being.
"Paramedics are already being forced to work 12 to 15 hour days without a break, with managers telling them they can't have a lunch break because there is too much work.
"Delivering appropriate community care requires a timely ambulance response, but with increasing workloads and paramedic numbers that fail to match growing demand this is becoming increasingly difficult.
"While staffing enhancements announced by Health Minister Brad Hazzard in 2017 were a welcome step, the reality shown by this latest data is that those extra paramedics are nothing more than a stop-gap holding up an already crippled and under resourced organisation.
"Many of these new paramedics are being used to reform rosters rather than increase minimum operating levels.
"This is not a viable operating model for a first-world ambulance organisation."
The Bureau of Health Information Healthcare Quarterly is available at: http://www.bhi.nsw.gov.au/BHI_reports/healthcare_quarterly/Apr-Jun2019
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