Ambos, choppers on the cards

A LIBERAL government will invest $125 million of its total $757 million health spend to beef up the state’s ambulance services with more paramedics, a “supercharged” aeromedical helicopter service and a Glenorchy ambulance “super station”.

Details of the Liberals’ proposed ambulance service investments — to be made over a six-year period — will be released today.

They include establishing and staffing Tasmania’s first integrated medical and search and rescue helicopter service.

Dedicated resources would be based at Hobart Airport, and the service would employ 14 additional full-time paramedics, 5.5 specialist retrieval doctors, 5.7 nurses and 4.5 paediatric registrar doctors.

The Liberals expect the aeromedical service would save an additional five lives per 100 helicopter trauma responses, cost $1.6 million to establish and require about $10 million a year to run.

Under the Liberals’ ambulance plan an additional 42 paramedics would be progressively recruited to serve regional areas, with 14 stations to be upgraded by 2022.

Six full-time staff would also be added to the Ambulance Tasmania State Operations Centre.

Other Ambulance Tasmania investments include a $15 million rural hospital and ambulance station upgrade fund, and secondary triage of Ambulance Tasmania calls.

The ambulance policy is expected to cost $60 million over the first three years, including for the completion of all capital projects.

Over the following three years $66 million would be spent on recurrent costs.

Denison MP Elise Archer yesterday said a Liberal government would build a $6 million ambulance “super station” in Glenorchy.

Glenorchy’s ambulance station saw about 5700 dispatches during the past financial year and Ms Archer said it was “busting at the seams”.

“We have seen an increase in demand in this area, and greater Hobart deserves this health facility,” Ms Archer said.

Planning and construction would commence in 2018-19, with the new station expected to open by 2021.

Opposition Leader Rebecca White said the Liberals were promising a new building but no new ambulance trucks.

Labor has promised $15.9 million for 25 new ambulance paramedics and two new ambulance trucks, one each in the South and North, as well as $3.2 million for 15 additional communications staff and $8 million for station upgrades.