Union Calls to End Limits on Paramedics in Regional NSW

Ambulance attendants wearing full protective clothing prepare a gurney to transport residents to hospital at the Wyoming Nursing Home on August 2, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. The Wyoming Nursing Home in Sydney's inner west, run by Hardi Aged Care, has reported 18 Covid-19 cases in residents and a further two in staff, sending the remainder of the home's top floor residents to hospital as a precaution. Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in hot spot local government areas have increased with masks required outdoors at all times and residents limited to movement within a 5 kilometre radius of their homes. Greater Sydney is in lockdown through August 28th to contain the highly contagious Covid-19 delta variant. Photo by Sean Foster/Getty Images

A shortage of specialist paramedics in regional New South Wales (NSW) and location limits that bar front-line responders from retaining their qualifications, if transferred regionally, are bringing the hospital system to breaking point, their union says.

The Australian Paramedics Association of NSW said the government’s rejection of a recommendation to expand specialist paramedics across the state would mean many communities were unable to receive critical care, increasing avoidable hospitalisations.

Last week the NSW government revealed it either fully or partially supports 10 of 12 recommendations made by a parliamentary inquiry into emergency departments.

But it did not support allowing extended and intensive care paramedics to retain their qualifications if they transfer to a regional location, arguing not all locations have sufficient workload or activity to ensure paramedics can maintain specialist accreditation.

Union chief Chris Kastelan said specialist paramedics were critical for preventing avoidable hospitalisations by treating many injuries on-site, easing overcrowding.

There are not enough extended care paramedics outside of the Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle areas, he said on Monday.

“Not because there aren’t enough willing paramedics, but because of NSW Ambulance restrictive practices,” he said.

“Location limits actively block vast swathes of the state from receiving the kind of specialised care that can be vital in saving lives and reducing pressure on the hospital system.”

Kastelan described the restrictions as utterly unnecessary.

“For the government to reject this recommendation is to condemn communities across the state to further bed block delays in response times and backflip on their election promise to expand specialist coverage,” he said.

Recent BHI data showed rates of ambulance to emergency department transfer within target times are worse than a decade ago, with one in five patients waiting for almost an hour to receive hospital care after arriving by ambulance.

The government will roll out urgent care clinics and virtual consultation services across the state to help ease pressure on over-crowded emergency departments.

It has also committed $175 million to recruit an additional 1200 nurses by 2027.