Why the surge workforce is causing more paramedic roster gaps than it’s filling

The Ambulance Union says the surge workforce is causing stress-related staff absences and must be would back immediately.

The surge workforce — which includes paramedicine students, St John volunteers, ADF and volunteers from other areas such as surf lifesaving — was activated late last year, as Ambulance Victoria struggled to fill rosters.

Surge workers assist paramedics when they’re treating patients, and help with extrications and manual handling. They also drive ambulances but cannot do so when they’ve got lights and sirens on.

But Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill says use of surge workers is causing more roster gaps than it’s plugging.

“Our paramedics are driving lights and sirens to every single case, they are assessing every single patient, they have the clinical responsibility for all decision-making … all of that decision-making responsibility weighs on that one practitioner and it’s actually starting to be a greater driver of absentees amongst our crews than actually helping us to fill shifts,” he told Neil Mitchell.

Mr Hill said paramedics who are only a year into their career are often now the sole paramedic in a car and they’re struggling to cope with the pressure.

“They’re terrified of making clinical errors, of making a clinical mistake,” he said.

“When I was a paramedic you’d be four years on the road before you were the senior clinician on the car, and we’ve got people a year in — just completed their internship — and they’re the senior operator.

“The responsibility it’s placing on people is just so overwhelmingly high that we are seeing people burning out, we are seeing people break down or even leave shift early.”

Concerningly, Mr Hill says Ambulance Victoria is pre-rostering surge workers, and when paramedics volunteer for shifts, they’re being knocked back.

“The pre-rostering needs to stop,” he said.

Ambulance Victoria says it has already wound back support from a number of surge partners, and is “progressively working through a return to business-as-usual service delivery”.

Press PLAY below to hear why the Ambulance Union wants the surge workforce wound back immediately