Tasmania ambulance ramping woes stagger on with nothing changed under new plan, union warns

Claims ‘nothing’s changed’ under an interim action plan on ambulance ramping after the health union says the crisis reached a dire level last week across the entire state. The latest.

Ambulances at the Royal Hobart Hospital. Picture: Chris Kidd

Paramedics are set to step up industrial action over ambulance ramping at the state’s public hospitals saying “nothing’s changed” under an interim action plan.

The health union says the ramping crisis was dire last Friday across the entire state with ambulances having to be called away from hospitals.

But Health Minister Guy Barnett says a review and interim action plan have been “done by experts in their field” and the final recommendations are due in early 2024.

Health and Community Services Union secretary Robbie Moore said: “The whole state was at surge four all day on Friday and that means hospitals had to release ambulances with some paramedics left to look after more than one patient waiting at hospital.

“The system is failing and response times for ambulances are dangerous.

“Nothing’s changed under the interim action plan and ramping has been terrible at the Royal Hobart and Launceston General.

“It will be as bad as you’d expect on New Year’s Eve which is the busiest night of the year after the AFL grand final.”

HACSU Industrial Manager Robbie Moore. Picture: Chris Kidd

The government released a one-page interim action plan just before Christmas following the first phase of an independent review into problems plaguing the state’s hospital emergency departments.

The recommendations included speeding up discharges for overnight patients, improving the “safe flow” of patients to their next ward, better systems for dealing with non-urgent patients and “alternative methods” for treating aged care patients.

Frustrated ambulance workers have been wearing pink T-shirts to highlight what they say is a crisis and Mr Moore said a meeting would be held soon to determine what further action would be taken.

“There are 30 permanent positions that need to be filled but the bureaucracy won’t tick off on them,” he said.

“Workers are absolutely fed up because there are so many people in acting positions and bosses working on projects so people on short term arrangements just move interstate where conditions are better.

“There’s no long-term vision and they won’t even pay travel allowance for people to work at Strahan or Zeehan which are regularly understaffed.”

Health Minister Guy Barnett.

Mr Barnett said the Department of Health was committed to delivering the best possible healthcare for the Tasmanian community and to providing a safe, supportive environment for our valued staff.

“We have been taking proactive steps to address this issue and I would point to the 97 positions in Ambulance Tasmania which were established in response to Covid and made permanent in the 2023-24 budget,” he said.

“The action plan identifies the interface between EDs and the wider hospital system, and outlines actions and performance targets that will support the timely transfer or discharge of patients from hospitals, by ensuring early identification, intervention, and management of barriers using a range of evidence-based strategies.

“We are taking a system-wide approach to addressing patient access and flow challenges at our hospitals, including increased bed capacity, recruitment of additional staff, direct admission pathways (where appropriate), and delivering more alternatives to attending hospital Emergency Departments by investing in community and primary health care solutions.”

Tasmanian Branch Secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Emily Shepherd at parliament lawn Hobart. Picture: Chris Kidd

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation secretary Emily Shepherd said ramping was a “huge issue” and highlighted that hospital emergency departments were “over-crowded and over capacity”.

“The focus has to be not just on fixing ramping but access and timely discharge across the whole hospital,” she said.

Ms Shepherd is hopeful that more nurses and midwives will be employed in 2024 in the public health sector after the union secured pay rises and a raft of entitlements in 2023.