The Rockliff Government must start listening to our paramedic workforce and urgently address the failures plaguing our health system.
During today's Select Committee on Transfer of Care Delays, paramedics shared that workers are experiencing psychological trauma by not being able to respond to demand because they are stuck at the ramp.
They said that on any given day two thirds of Hobart's metro ambulance shifts are going unfilled, meaning Tasmanians are going without urgent care, leading to worse patient outcomes.
Alarmingly, paramedics are not being given appropriate time to undertake formal clinical or operational training, including time to complete mandatory online modules, because they are on the ramp or attending to patients in corridors while waiting for transfer of care.
Access block and ambulance ramping are symptomatic of a health system in crisis and our paramedics should not have to bear the brunt of this.
As a result, paramedics are leaving the Tasmanian workforce because they do not feel valued and can receive better conditions and pay elsewhere.
Since the Liberals came to office 10 years ago, ambulance response times have increased by almost 10 minutes and Tasmanians and our paramedics spent 31,000 hours ramped from July 2022 to May 2023. This is unacceptable.
The Rockliff Government must find ways to alleviate this burden, including providing attraction and retention measures for our paramedics, and convert those paramedics on short-term contracts to permanent positions.
A Labor Government will invest $6.5 million to support our state's paramedics and improve ambulance response times, creating additional permanent paramedic positions across regional Tasmania.
Anita Dow MP
Shadow Minister for Health, Mental Health and Wellbeing
