Less Than Adequate Ambulance Resources

The petition of the undersigned citizens of Tasmania draws to the attention of the House the chronic State-wide under resourcing of Ambulance Tasmania.

• Ambulance Tasmania has the worst response times in the Country.
• Ambulance Tasmania currently operates from 51 sites across the State.
• 37 of those sites rely on the goodwill of volunteers to complete the emergency response model.
• 13 of those 37 sites operate as volunteer only response without qualified paramedics.
• Single officer response from paramedics or volunteers always requires another ambulance to be dispatched for backup. This then results in two stations within the community without coverage.
• Australian Paramedics Association Tasmania (APA TAS), believes that all Tasmanian citizens deserve a qualified paramedic at their side when they most need it.
• All of our hardworking volunteers deserve full support and training from paramedics at all sites.
• APA TAS advocates for an increase in the number of salaried stations and staff in order to:
•     reduce response times;
•     minimise single officer response;
•     keep up with the expansion and meet the demand of metro workloads; and
•     provide safer rosters and safer working conditions for all staff.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to approve the appointment of an additional 229 full-time employees (FTE), which consists of an immediate recruitment of 119 FTE, followed by the subsequent employment of an additional 110 FTE and supporting resources over a period of 3 years for a total of 188 frontline paramedics, 16 State Operation Centre staff and 25 non-operational support staff.