MORE paramedics for Orange will be on the agenda at next Thursday’s meeting of Orange City Council, when mayor John Davis asks for council support to lobby NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner to increase the numbers in Orange.
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Today Cr Davis will meet with representatives of the Ambulance Service of NSW to discuss paramedic union concerns.
There has been no staff increase at Orange Ambulance Station since 1992, despite a significant population increase.
“I will listen to what the ambulance representatives have to say today, but it is my intention to put the matter before council next Thursday,” Cr Davis said.
Yesterday Cr Davis met with Health Services Union regional ambulance sub-branch president Ian Spurway, who told the mayor the workload of Orange paramedics had continued to increase over the past 20 years, in line with population growth, but there had been no increase in numbers.
“Effectively, when we got the helicopter service for Orange, what was formerly the afternoon shift was allocated to the CareFlight service,” Cr Davis said.
“But what appears to have happened is that when the CareFlight contract ended and NSW Ambulance took it over, Orange effectively lost a shift.”
Yesterday, a spokesperson for the Ambulance Service of NSW said staffing levels met the requirements for a region of this size.
“Paramedics are not asked to work 24 hours straight, however, there may be times when a paramedic who is on call could be called back to duty after completing a shift,’ the spokesperson said.
“If the paramedic feels fatigued they can use the Ambulance fatigue policy.”
However, Mr Spurway said paramedics were reluctant to call in fatigued.
“Of course we are going to go. We have a social and professional responsibility to the community we live and work in for people who need our help,” he said.
The Ambulance Service of NSW says it is consulting staff and the union on paramedic rosters to better meet the needs of regional NSW.
However, Mr Spurway rejected the statement, saying consultation was happening at smaller stations, but not Orange.