Trivial 000 time wasters

TASMANIA urgently needs more paramedics and a secondary triage service to deal with patients ringing 000 with minor complaints, says Ambulance Tasmania.

A review into Ambulance Tasmania Clinical and Operational Services shows almost one in five people who have an ambulance dispatched do not require transport to hospital and emergency lines are being jammed by calls relating to trivial health issues.

These includes things such as common colds, itchy eyes, requests for medications to be delivered and even pet concerns.

The use of ambulance services has grown 14 times faster than Tasmania’s population during the past seven years.

The review said if growth was left unchecked it would significantly affect resources and ambulance response times — the slowest in the nation.

The Australian Paramedic Association Tasmania has already called for the State Gov- ernment to employ 100 more paramedics.

The review said the need for more emergency capacity was greatest in Launceston and Hobart, and Tasmania urgently needed a secondary triage service to direct callers to more appropriate treatment options.

It recommended Tasmania look to Ambulance Victoria on how to deliver that service.

Health Minister Michael Ferguson said 35 more paramedics and an extra call taker would be employed and the Government would “broadly consider” a secondary triage service. He did not support an ambulance levy, which might deter people from calling in non-emergency situations.

In some areas of the state more than 40 per cent of transported patients are classified as non-acute.

The worst areas for timewasting calls were Somerset, Wynyard and Port Sorell.

“An ambulance and its crew can only attend one 000 call at a time and if it is busy dealing with a case that does not re- quire emergency treatment or transport, it is simply not available to intervene in a life and death situation,” Ambulance Tasmania chief executive Neil Kirby said.

“While some of these people are assessed or treated by paramedics at the scene, the fact is many people do not need an ambulance at all.”

Some of the examples were a Scottsdale resident who rang 000 with a blocked nose and a headache, a person in Mowbray who called 000 with a cut finger “bleeding uncontrollably” but which only needed a Band-Aid, and another calling because their dog was sick.

A Bruny Island resident asked paramedics to visit a pharmacy and deliver medication via the ferry and a caller from Westerway rang complaining of an itchy eye.

“These sort of calls potentially cost lives,’’ Mr Kirby said.

“Even if we are able to convince the caller that they do not require an ambulance, it still means that a 000 dispatcher is not available to deal with a more urgent matter.”