Ambulance service denies sacking whistleblower over rollover picture that exposed fatigue crisis

A whistleblower whose picture of a rolled ambulance exposed the danger of fatigue issues for regional paramedics has been sacked by his employer.

Andrew Bishop was working for National Patient Transport in late June when he snapped the photo of an ambulance that ran off the road and rolled in an early morning crash near Myrtleford.

Paramedic Jim Avard’s rolled ambulance.

Bishop and his colleague were the first to assist exhausted paramedic Jim Avard, who had been working for 18½ hours.

As Ambulance Victoria dealt with the public and internal backlash over its handling of the incident, the repercussions for Bishop were immediate. “An hour after it was released to the news … I received a phone call … to tell me that I’d been stood down.”

Bishop says he was asked to explain himself to National Patient Transport before later being given a show-cause notice.

“The photo was taken after the patient had been handed over to the ambulance crew from Beechworth,” he said, explaining he had been a union health and safety representative and took the shot “as evidence of a fatigue-related incident”.

Whistleblower Andrew Bishop is considering pursuing an unfair dismissal case.Credit: Nine News

Bishop’s employment was terminated on Tuesday last week.

“It is effectively a witch-hunt. Because I’ve been a health and safety rep for some time,” he said.

The Victorian Ambulance Union has slammed the decision.

“We certainly don’t think it’s fair. It’s a massive overreach to terminate someone over this,” union secretary Danny Hill said.

“This photo really highlighted a key issue that the public, I think, took very seriously.

“I think he deserves to be commended for his actions, not terminated.”

The paramedic who was driving the rolled ambulance is yet to return to work himself.

Avard contacted National Patient Transport after learning Bishop had been stood down, explaining that he was grateful the staffer had self-responded to his case and helped to free him.

Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Avard wrote in an email: “It would be very disappointing for me if the NPT crew has been adversely affected by attending me that night. That’s what mates do and the emergency services need to look after and support one another.”

Bishop is looking to pursue an unfair dismissal case.

A National Patient Transport spokesperson denied Bishop had been sacked over the photo.

“While it is generally not our policy to comment on individual employment matters, we would like to be clear that in this case, the decision to terminate his employment was not based on the capturing and distribution of the photograph.

“However, NPT is always committed to fair and proper processes and procedures in our investigations of any incidents involving our employees.

“NPT acknowledges the valuable contribution of all emergency and non-emergency staff that work in challenging environments and we thank them for their service.”

Avard had already worked more than 14 hours on June 26 when he was asked to respond to a job almost 50 kilometres away.

Four hours later, Avard was just 400 metres from his driveway when he nodded off and crashed.

When news of the crash became public, Ambulance Victoria infuriated other paramedics by issuing a statement claiming Avard “was not working an 18½-hour shift as alleged”.

The organisation later apologised for the “framing of the statement”, clarifying the length of Avard’s shift was never doubted, but said he had not been rostered to work for 18½ hours.

The case became a lightning rod for wider issues between paramedics and Ambulance Victoria, including complaints of burnout and a toxic workplace culture.

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