NSW Ambulance: Key paramedic deployment roles shifted from regional centres to Sydney

Key paramedic jobs in regional NSW are being shifted hundreds of kilometres to Sydney as part of a statewide ‘centralisation’ program that paramedics say will strip the regions of jobs and impact emergency care in the regional centres.

Key paramedic jobs in regional NSW are being shifted hundreds of kilometres to Sydney as part of a statewide ‘centralisation’ program that paramedics say will strip the regions of jobs and impact emergency care in the regional centres.

The NSW Ambulance Service is facing growing backlash over a decision to relocate deployment manager positions from at least five regional communities to metropolitan Sydney as part of “rostering improvement project” aimed at delivering “efficiencies”.

The positions are tasked with duties include rostering paramedics in ambulance zones with up to 900 staff as well as providing training, approving leave and other managerial duties.

The Health Services Union said deployments managers play a key role in paramedic coverage in regional centres and has warned shifting the jobs to Sydney could leave services in jeopardy.

“They know the local community and many of them have actually been paramedics in the area. They also know the local workforce. A centralised system based in Sydney takes this away,” union secretary Stuart Hatter said.

Deployment manager roles are being relocated to Sydney.

Impacted employees, who asked not to be named, said some deployment managers are unwilling to relocate to Sydney due to housing costs or personal circumstances and are now facing the prospect of having to find alternative work.

NSW Upper House MP Amanda Cohn – who worked as a GP and frontline emergency services volunteer in Albury before entering parliament – said there had been anecdotal evidence that the transfer of roles to Sydney has already imported services – including deployment officers incorrectly asking staff to fill rosters in stations five hours away from their homes because of a lack of geographic awareness.

The NSW Ambulance Service is facing resistance from employees.

The relocation of staff to Sydney has also involved deployment manager positions being reclassified from an operational paramedic roles to ’roster co-ordinators’, resulting in a change in employment awards.

Health Minister Ryan Park – in information provided to NSW parliament – said impacted staff have been provided with “transition pathways into new roles” and given options to remain in their local area or to transfer to operational support positions.

Mr Park said the restructure of staff into a centralised team will deliver efficiencies such as “payroll functions.”.

NSW Ambulance commissioner and chief executive Dominic Morgan said the relocation of staff would provide consistency to ambulance services in regional NSW.

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park.

“Getting rosters right or wrong can have a profound impact on the health and wellbeing of the staff who are actually doing those rosters,” he said.

“What we are doing is bringing together a community of people.”

NSW Opposition MP Wendy Tuckerman said the centralisation of jobs to Sydney equated to stripping jobs from regional communities.

She said the move “did not make sense” – particularly at a time when flexible work arrangements have become part of the norm in many workplaces.

NSW Opposition MP Wendy Tuckerman.

The NSW Health Services Union claims there had been no compelling justification for the centralisation of roles.

“NSW Ambulance preaches the message that it is a ‘statewide service’ that doesn’t just operate in metropolitan Sydney but doesn’t live up to that motto at all when it takes away regional and rural positions and puts them in Sydney,” Mr Hatter said.

In a statement, a spokesman for NSW Ambulance said it was actively working with impacted staff members to find suitable alternate roles.

“Jobs at the equivalent level and grade in the same locations are being created which eligible staff may be considered for,” he said.

“NSW Ambulance has created more than 1000 additional positions for paramedics in regional NSW as part of the Statewide Enhancement Project, the Statewide Infrastructure Team Program and last year’s budget announcement of 500 additional paramedics for regional NSW.

“This significant boost to regional paramedic numbers has meant NSW Ambulance needed to review and update our approach to introduce centralised rostering and payroll processes across the state to ensure we are using the best possible model to fulfill these important functions.”