Paramedics working on Orange’s aero-medical retrieval service could be left battling fatigue after a policy providing breaks between shifts was withdrawn, according to their union.
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The Health Services Union (HSU) called on the state government to re-introduce a policy to prevent fatigue among aero-medical retrieval paramedics.
HSU’s NSW secretary Gerard Hayes said he welcomed the introduction of a policy which enforced a minimum break of 10 hours between shifts.
“It was very sensible policy, we applaud it,” Mr Hayes said.
Mr Hayes said aero-medical paramedics had been warning of the dangers of fatigue for several years.
He said NSW Ambulance reneged on their policy after realising it would mean extra staff would have to be employed at Orange, Tamworth and Lismore.
“They recognised the problem [of fatigue] and then realised there’s a financial implication,” Mr Hayes said.
“The only area of the Ambulance service that doesn’t suffer fatigue is their policies, there are not in place long enough.
“Don’t put budgets ahead of paramedics’ safety.
“[Paramedics] are often called back to work after an eight to 10 hour shift, they’re trying to function in a very fluid environment.
“For too long, aero-medical paramedics have been forced to risk their own health and safety to protect the public.”
An spokeswoman for NSW Ambulance resassured the community there would be no impact on services.
“NSW Ambulance met with the HSU via a teleconference to clarify the interpretation of wording contained in the fatigue policy for critical care helicopter paramedics who perform day shift proceeding to on-call night duties,” the spokeswoman said.
“The HSU had a different interpretation of the wording of the policy to NSW Ambulance.
“In the teleconference it was agreed by both parties that NSW Ambulance as the authors of the fatigue policy would make changes to the wording of the policy to remove any ambiguity and email the changes to all affected staff in order to clarify the operational requirements of helicopter paramedics.
“NSW Ambulance continues to update its fatigue policy for critical care helicopter paramedics in line with CASA best practice and safety for our air crews.”