AN Orange paramedic has backed an ‘abuser pays’ system for people who have had too much to drink but says there needs to be exclusions for people who genuinely “come unstuck”.
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A report by NSW Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat recommended the government consider charging people whose alcohol abuse required the use of services, in order to recoup the cost.
Health Services Union central west ambulance sub branch president Matt Pickering said up to half the calls on a weekend for paramedics in Orange were alcohol-related.
These calls take up time paramedics could be spending at a heart attack or stroke,” he said.
“Some people go out and have the best of intentions and have had a misadventure, this is not designed for them.
“This is designed for the people who did not come up with a plan B, get abusive and obnoxious.”
Mr Pickering said first-time offenders should not be forced to pay because he feared it would deter people from calling an ambulance.
He says, in many cases in Orange, someone will have had a bit too much to drink and their friends will call an ambulance, and that was the right thing to do.
“But once you’ve done it once, you know,” Mr Pickering said.
Paramedics in Orange do not see many cases of drink spiking, but Mr Pickering says often young women will try and keep up drink for drink with their male counterparts and overestimate how much they can drink.
Alcohol abuse costs government agencies about $21 million based on the Orange population alone.
Alcohol abuse costs the state $3.87 billion according to the report, commissioned by Mr Achterstraat and compiled by Griffith University.
Mr Pickering said in some extreme cases people treated alcohol abuse as a joke, had a lack of respect for those out there to help them and even took ‘selfies’ in the ambulance.
