Here are the latest updates on a few pressing issues within Ambulance.
Resourcing
Resourcing remains the biggest issue. We are aware that AT is undertaking an “Establishment Review” identifying unfilled vacancies across all the regions and have identified significant numbers of vacancies which should soon result in additional staff.
We’re also pressing AT to convert long-term fixed-term members into permanent positions as a part of that process.
However, we all know that we are seriously lacking resources right across the state. We are keeping up the pressure around that. While the government promised us more staff, we need more, and we’ll keep advocating for those as we have always done.
Remember that your safety is paramount. Many of you have expressed the view that reporting safety concerns is a waste of time, but please keep reporting safety concerns through SRLS and stay safe.
TOC
Lucas and Tim will continue to visit the ramp and support members through the implementation of the 60-minute TOC procedure. The stats show that we are seeing results, even though that other pressures internally are still affecting our community response.
The TOC implementation has placed massive pressure on all staff including operational managers. We recognise this hasn’t been an easy time. Cultural change takes time. It's amazing how beds can suddenly be found where they didn’t exist once AT imposes the escalation procedure on the hospital.
Higher duties for fixed-term employees
The current Award prohibits this from happening albeit HACSU and AT agree that it’s causing a massive problem. We are looking at making application to amend the Award to fix this issue shortly. Keep an eye out for an update.
Fleet management
We are seriously concerned about the safety of the AT fleet. Members in the south would be aware that a significantly damaged (and unreported) vehicle was found to be in operation recently. This raised major concerns about the way AT and the Department managing vehicle safety and fleet. We are currently meeting with AT to get a handle on what’s happening with the fleet and how vehicle maintenance and replacement is being managed. Stay tuned for more information on this.
Wellbeing
Lucas and Tim have been travelling the state over the past week visiting as many stations as they can. Where they’ve managed to catch members on station they’ve had some great conversations. Rarely do we get to have a quality conversation with staff (particularly when it’s on the ramp). The overwhelming theme coming through in our conversations relates to your wellbeing. Whether you’re struggling on the road or in the comms centre with little downtime, unable to properly decompress or are on workers compensation, you all deserve better and need more to be done in this space.
Wellbeing isn’t a tick-a-box exercise, AT needs to have a strategic approach to staff wellbeing and a change of culture to support it.
If you have any questions or need more information, we’re here to help.