Our Overworked " Lifeline " !

When we dial 000 in an emergency situation, we expect an ambulance to promptly deliver a paramedic to stabilize the patient and get them swiftly to hospital.  Any delay can cost lives and we are now finding that being a paramedic is a dangerous occupation.  In particular, the prevalence of " Ice " in the drug trade has resulted in irrationality from both patients and their loved ones and it has become common for help to be resisted and the paramedics physically attacked.   We are fast reaching the stage where they need to work in pairs - as is the situation with the police.

The Health Services Union (HSU) claims that New South Wales needs an additional eight hundred paramedics to cut response times, relieve overworked staff and deliver improved patient outcomes across the state.  Unfortunately Ambulance Services are only equipped to train two hundred new paramedics each year.  With our ever rising population, the risk is growing that we will face a future shortage of paramedics.

The HSU fears that budget restraints may tempt the government to lower training standards to generate more paramedics to fill this gap.  Usually, the paramedic is the first to reach a patient and that evaluation is critical.  What happens immediately and during the journey to a hospital emergency room is often the balancing factor between life and death.  Paramedics have the highest degree of trust and that has been eared by the results delivered.

Now a new law change is imposing a personal cost on every paramedic that has to come from their own pocket and this seems grossly unfair.   Later this year it will be a requirement that paramedics be registered with the Australian Health Practitioners  Registration Association  (AHPRA) for their " Working with Children " check .    This involves a $190 fee which each paramedic must pay to be legally able to continue working as a paramedic who may encounter child patients.   The government has now made a provisional offer to reimburse that fee and that is likely to be accepted by the HSU.

Paramedics really are amazing people. Their diagnostic skills are legendary. They may encounter the entire spectrum of trauma, ranging from gunshot wounds to heart attacks and stroke and their evaluation of what is needed is similar to the knowledge of a general practitioner, with the added backup of radio contact with the hospital emergency room and its range of speciality services.  A well stocked ambulance and its paramedics are a mobile emergency room that provides a first response when sometimes life or death is measured in minutes.

We remember the anguish when a recent lighting strike knocked out the 000 service for several hours and those ambulance calls went unanswered.  Making sure that the paramedics can deliver an adequate response time should be at the head of our priorities !