Ambo stations with no crews

STAFF shortages left five of Hobart’s six metropolitan ambulance stations without staff overnight Sunday, the staff union says.

The Priority1 Facebook page, run by the Health and Community Sector Union, noted the shortfall.

“Resources in the South were so depleted that after midnight last night five stations had no staff.

“That’s five stations without a crew to respond to cases: no Glenorchy crew, no Bridgewater crew, no Mornington crew, no Kingston crew and no branch station officer to respond to cases in Nubeena.”

The Claremont ambulance station doesn’t operate at night, leaving its four crews at the headquarters station.

At one point all were ramped at the Royal Hobart Hospital, leaving no crews available to deal with call-outs.

The state’s ambulance service has been under prolonged strain amid high demand and staffing shortages, HACSU state secretary Tim Jacobson said.

“If we’d had a [busy] night like one of the nights we had a few weeks ago, it would have been catastrophic,” he said.

“The circumstances we’re in are getting worse and there’s nothing in the short or medium term to indicate that it’s going to get better.

“Whether the Government likes it or not we unfortunately have a situation where ambulance demand has gone through the roof, it’s been going through the roof for the last four or five years and there hasn’t been any additional staffing and reality has caught up with us.”

Labor health spokeswoman Sarah Lovell said the Government was letting the community down.

“Communities in Bridgewater, Glenorchy, Mornington, Kingston and Nubeena last night had no local ambulance available because of Will Hodgman’s failure to properly invest in health,” Ms Lovell said. “People’s lives are being put at risk by a Government that just does not care about local communities.”

Health Minister Sarah Courtney said there was a “high level of sick leave last night”.

“The Government never wants to see patients waiting too long for care, which is why we have employed 92 paramedics and dispatch officers since 2014 and are in the process of employing 42 additional regional and remote paramedics,’’ she said.

“Unlike Labor, we will continue to support the decisions of Ambulance Tasmania’s state operations centre who allocate resources accordingly based on demand and how they can best be utilised to help Tasmanians in need across the state.”