Tasmania’s paramedics are taking direct action to protect their safety and the safety of patients, as Government fails to resolve the state’s health crisis.
Shadow Minister for Ambulance Services Sarah Lovell said workers have been forced to take matters into their own hands.
“Will Hodgman’s failure to address the health and ambulance crisis is putting the lives of Tasmanians at risk,” Ms Lovell said.
“We saw yesterday a leaked report demonstrating that Ambulance Tasmania is failing to meet its legal obligations regarding the work health and safety of paramedics. From tomorrow, paramedics will take matters into their own hands, moving patients out of hospitals and back into ambulances if they don’t get treatment within half an hour.
“Ramping creates an unsafe working environment for paramedics and increases risk for patients.
“Paramedics can’t hand over patients to a hospital when there aren’t enough staff to care for them, and no space for them to be treated. In many cases it’s safer for paramedics to take people back out of the hospital and care for them inside an ambulance.
“The core job of paramedics is to respond to emergency situations in the community. They can’t do that when hospitals are not resourced to safely treat sick Tasmanians.
“Workers have no confidence the Government will resolve the health crisis, considering the only plan it has is more cuts. Will Hodgman needs to stop what he’s doing, reverse the cuts and provide more resources to our hospitals and ambulance service before more Tasmanians die unnecessarily.”
Sarah Lovell
Shadow Minister for Ambulance Services
