Extra 350 paramedics, ambulance officers, SA Labor pledges

SA Labor has announced it will recruit an extra 350 paramedics and ambulance officers over four years to help fix ramping and speed up response times.

An extra 350 paramedics and ambulance officers would be recruited over four years as part of an “unprecedented” state Labor Party plan to help fix ramping and deliver faster emergency care.

The Opposition on Sunday afternoon announced that if it wins the March state election it will invest $107.8m to bring on board extra staff and pay for 36 more ambulances.

The commitment, which Labor says is unprecedented, comprises previously announced paramedics and ambulance officers at regional locations, including 30 for the Adelaide Hills.

Ambulance ramping at Flinders Medical Centre. Picture: Ambulance Employees Association

Their pledge includes:

EIGHT extra 24/7 metropolitan ambulance crews, comprising 128 paramedics. These paramedics will form eight 16-person emergency crews.

THREE additional 24/7 metropolitan emergency support crews, comprising 36 ambulance officers. These crews will respond to less acute Triple 0 calls and transport patients from hospital to home and between hospitals to allow paramedic crews to focus on urgent cases.

A TOTAL of 151 paramedics and ambulances officers for country SA, providing 17 more crews from 2022-23. These will be located in priority areas such as Mount Barker, Victor Harbor, Goolwa, Strathalbyn, the Limestone Coast and the Upper Spencer Gulf.

A further 20 senior paramedics will also be enlisted to support new recruits, as will 15 more 000 ambulance dispatchers.

The South Australian Ambulance Service currently has about 1200 salaried staff and 1500 volunteer staff, operating from more than 100 sites across the state.

Labor Leader Peter Malinauskas has promised 350 new ambulance officers and paramedics. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

All of the additional staff and resources would be rolled out progressively from the 2022-23 financial year.

The extra ambulance dispatchers were announced on Saturday as part of Labor’s pledge to establish a $120 million state-of-the-art ambulance headquarters in Adelaide’s CBD.

The facility would replace the ambulance service’s existing Eastwood headquarters.

Labor Leader Peter Malinauskas said his party would invest in the ambulance service to ultimately provide “a better service for our community”.

“We know we need to look after our emergency responders who do some of the most difficult and challenging work in caring for our community,” he said.

Opposition health spokesman Chris Picton said Labor was able to make the commitment “because we will cancel Steven Marshall’s $662m basketball stadium and invest those funds in health”.

Ramping at Women's and Children's Hospital. Picture Ambulance Employees Association

Over the past week, the Opposition has made a raft of health pledges, including promises of an extra 300 hospitals beds, 300 more nurses and 100 additional doctors across the public system.

Commenting on these promises on Sunday, Premier Steven Marshall said the there were a “whole pile of programs that (the Liberal Party had) already announced that will deliver an end to ramping”.

“At the moment, all we see from Labor is...blank cheques, throwing money around like confetti, but ultimately it’s the taxpayers that need to pay for it,” he said.