Paramedics plan to stand down for up to an hour and refuse to take patients’ billing information

Ambulance Victoria paramedics are planning strike action as its pay dispute with the Allan government escalates.

Victoria’s ambulance union has proposed a suite of 26 disruptions ­including walking off the job in an escalation of its pay dispute with the state government.

Under a proposed strike action that went to the Fair Work Commission for approval on Tuesday, paramedics would stand down for up to an hour, refuse to take billing information from patients and abandon emergency department protocols.

The fresh health blow comes as the government faces a $1bn time bomb with two million additional patients a year expected to cause havoc across the state’s embattled emergency departments.

New data from Australia’s biggest patient engagement provider, HotDoc, has revealed 4 per cent of patients would opt out of visiting medical clinics and instead head to emergency departments if GPs raised fees in response to payroll taxes now being enforced across the medical sector.

The proposed strike action went to the Fair Work Commission for approval on Tuesday. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Latest health data, released last week, showed almost a third of Victorians needing emergency care were not being treated within the recommended time, meaning ambulance strike action and an influx of patients would wreak havoc on struggling hospitals.

Ambulance union secretary Danny Hill said significant improvement was needed to keep staff in the job.

An independent survey by Swinburne University and RMIT had found one fifth of paramedics were considering leaving.

The survey found more than 80 per cent of Ambulance Victoria employees felt the organisation was not supportive.

“Key initiatives need to be adopted post-pandemic to ­retain and sustain this critical workforce,” the review said.

“There was evidence of work intensification, low job satisfaction, with the majority of members often feeling emotionally drained.”

Mr Hill said despite a major review by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission in 2021, nothing had improved.

That review outlined widespread reports of discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying in the service, calling for immediate action to fix the culture

Ambulance union secretary Danny Hill says trust in senior management has ‘plummeted to its lowest levels ever’. Picture: AAP

Mr Hill said trust in senior management had now “plummeted to its lowest levels ever”.

“This EBA is about making the job more survivable by having better work-life balance, reasonable workload, getting home to family and hopefully being able to retain the experienced workforce,” he said.

“Ambos are dedicated to saving lives, but they deserve to have a life, too.”

Officers have rejected an offer of a 3 per cent pay rise and a $1800 lump sum at the end of each year of the agreement.

The state’s 5600 unionised Ambulance Victoria employees will vote in coming weeks to approve industrial action.

It comes as the government continues to face off with GPs over a payroll tax hit they warn would force them to raise fees by up to 30 per cent.

HotDoc founder Ben Hurst said patient access to primary care would be undermined.

Opposition spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said: “Labor’s health tax will drive thousands of patients from primary care to already overwhelmed emergency departments. This is an insidious tax that will end bulk billing as we know it.”