Additional paramedics hired to boost regional health service

Regional towns are set to receive a boost in ambulance resources, with 12 new paramedics to be hired across Dodges Ferry, Bicheno, Deloraine and St Helens this year.

Dodges Ferry volunteers Wayne Debnam and Denise Joss with Ambulance Tasmania CEO Neil Kirby and Prosser MLC Jane Howlett. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

REGIONAL towns are set to receive a boost in ambulance resources, with a total of 12 new paramedics to be hired across Dodges Ferry, Bicheno, Deloraine and St Helens this year.

Applications for the full-time positions closed on Sunday.

Each of the stations will employ three paramedics, who will work four days on, followed by four days off, on a rotating roster.

At Dodges Ferry, Bicheno and St Helens the career paramedics will cover day shift and be on-call at night, while the Deloraine station will be staffed 24/7.

Ambulance Tasmania chief executive officer Neil Kirby denied the new paramedics were required because of a decrease in the number of volunteers.

“This initiative was about analysing where we could better improve regional service delivery,” he said.

Ambulance Tasmania CEO Neil Kirby outside Dodges Ferry Ambulance Station. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

“We at Ambulance Tasmania rely heavily on volunteers throughout the state in our rural areas and we’ll continue to support them. One of the concepts of putting a branch station officer here is to provide that local support on the ground.”

Ambulance Tasmania volunteer of 23 years, Wayne Debnam, said the Dodges Ferry crew attended at least five or six cases a week.

He agreed a full-time paramedic was needed to help manage the workload during daylight hours.

“We’ve had a lot of volunteers come and go over the years,” Mr Debnam said.

“Mostly we have trouble finding people to cover our 24-hour service because most of the volunteers you get are working. We have one shift worker who covers some days when he’s off and we give coverage at night, from 7pm to 7am usually.

“During summer we get our normal influx of extra people, plus all the boating community arrive and we have lots of incidents on the water, but it’s still just as busy during winter because you get flu cases and emergency cases.”

Dodges Ferry volunteers Wayne Debnam and Denise Joss are encouraging others to sign up. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Denise Joss, who is another one of the six volunteers at Dodges Ferry, encouraged others to sign up for the service. She labelled her 16 years with Ambulance Tasmania as “very rewarding”.

“You get a lot of satisfaction out it. You might get called out at 2am in the morning when it’s -2C but you could possibly be saving someone’s life,” Ms Joss said.

“It’s a lot of responsibility for some people but you don’t have to be on-call every day or night of the week, if you can put in a couple of hours that’s better than nothing.”

Prosser Liberal MLC Jane Howlett said the State Government remained committed to boosting ambulance resources across Tasmania.

“That’s why we are recruiting 42 additional paramedics in rural and regional areas, to ensure we have coverage right across the state,” Ms Howlett said.

“This will help improve responsiveness, reduce fatigue and support our volunteers.”

Ms Howlett said three extra paramedics had already been successfully recruited at Wynyard.

Labor MP David O’Byrne described the State Government’s track record when it came to investing in paramedics as “very poor”.

“The system is in crisis and the Tasmanian community deserve better than these one off announcements,” he said.