Police officers on ‘fill in’ duty for ambulance paramedics

The Police Association says there is a growing trend where officers feel they are being sent to an address because there are not enough ambulances.

The Police Association says officers have waited with patients for up to half an hour because paramedics “were on a meal break”. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

POLICE officers are increasingly being sent to babysit medical patients until paramedics arrive because of “a lack of capacity” in the ambulance service, the police union says.

On some occasions, officers have waited with patients for up to half an hour because the paramedics “were on a meal break”, the Police Association of Tasmania told the Mercury on Thursday.

Police Association assistant secretary Andrew Bennett said it was always the case that police officers accompanied paramedics to jobs deemed potentially dangerous.

But he said there was a growing trend where officers felt they were being sent either because there were not enough ambulances or because the database which flags households and patients as a risk was outdated.

“The Ambulance Tasmania surge plan agreed to by Tasmania Police has unfairly placed our members at greater exposure to medical incidents that they are not appropriately trained for or equipped for,” Mr Bennett said.

“Unfortunately for our members, we can’t ask other agencies to attend domestics, drunks and burglaries when areas are at or above capacity.”

Mr Bennett said in one alarming incident, a 110kg police officer was forced to hold down an agitated and disorientated 86-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s because paramedics said they had just returned from a job in Launceston and needed 30 to 35 minutes to eat.

Police Association assistant secretary Andrew Bennett. Picture: PATRICK GEE

Tasmania Police Deputy Commissioner Scott Tilyard said officers were never dispatched instead of paramedics — but he confirmed they were sometimes requested by Ambulance Tasmania to attend a medical emergency if an ambulance was “not yet available”.

“It is a police duty to assist people in need and this sometimes includes medical emergencies,” Deputy Commissioner Tilyard said.

He said all police were trained in first aid but he agreed they did not have “anywhere near” the same level of training as paramedics.

The Police Association has reportedly been told by paramedics that ambulances are frequently being diverted away from jobs they are meant to attend with police to other incoming higher-priority cases.

The association’s Mr Bennett also raised concerns about the dated risk management data used by the communications centre for Ambulance Tasmania.

“Ambulance Tasmania currently have a process that flags an address due to potential violence that may require police attendance with them, but if the person who caused the address to be flagged has moved, this is not updated or reviewed in a proactive manner,” Mr Bennett said.

“This means if you move into this residence and require an ambulance, the police are coming too in the first instance.

“The Police Association are of the view that most members of the community when they call an ambulance would be expecting paramedics to attend and not the police.”