Emergency call over ‘profound’ shortage of rural ambos
The leader of South Australia’s Ambulance Employees Association (AEA) has called for government action after a text message alerted there would be 136 vacant ambulance shifts across regional SA next week.
It followed this week’s announcement of forced emergency department closures at Angaston District Hospital and GP shortages across regional SA.
AEA General Secretary Paul Ekkelboom told InDaily there was “profound” concerns that ambulance staffing shortages would leave regional patients vulnerable they would receive emergency care.
“The government must redirect the millions of dollars it currently spends trying to fill vacant ambulance shifts on overtime, and instead actually fund safe and sustainable staffing levels in country SA,” Ekkelboom said.
Health Minister Chris Picton told ABC Radio yesterday morning the text message was standard protocol.
“This is a regular text message which is sent out, as I understand it, every day to alert people to where there’s opportunities to do overtime,” Picton said.
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But shadow Health Minister Ashton Hurn said more needed to be done to keep regional communities safe
“If having hundreds of gaps in ambulance shifts in our regions is ‘regular’, then it underscores the complete vulnerability of our health system,” Hurn said.
While Ekkelboom agreed the texts were standard procedure, he said the number of vacancies was irregular.
“For 136 country ambulance shifts to be dropped in a single week is telling of the extent of ambulance resourcing deficits in country SA,” Ekkelboom said.
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“Emergency services are critical public services that are essential for community safety — it’s not an exaggeration to say it’s a matter of life and death.”
Hurn said ambulance workforce shortages would have a “huge domino effect” across the state and create further problems for paramedics.
“Workforce shortages also impact our regional hospitals, with the Angaston Emergency Department forced to close more than 20 times over the past two years,” she said.
An SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) spokesperson said the text message for vacant shifts was not a new process or development.
“SAAS operates a mixed model of staffing across South Australia, with 79 volunteer and 24 career ambulance stations across regional South Australia,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“In the past year, the number of active operational SAAS volunteers has increased — SAAS volunteers are highly trained and valued members of their local communities.”
Picton said the Labor government had recruited 108 extra ambulance workers in regional South Australia and the ambulance vacancies would be covered.
“The Liberals cut the ambulance service and in contrast Labor has turned that around and invested in extra ambos with record recruitment,” Picton told InDaily.
“Communities across the Limestone Coast, Upper Spencer Gulf and Yorke Peninsula now have extra paramedics providing more coverage for those communities.”
