Paramedics have launched industrial action amid a desperate call to the NSW government to improve staffing levels, while nurses are considering walking off the job for the second time this year.
NSW paramedics launched the 24-hour industrial work bans on Monday, when staff will refuse to leave their allocated station to fill roster gaps in a sign of growing agitation with the state’s public sector.
Paramedics are pushing for an additional 1500 staff and a pay rise of more than 2.5 per cent.
They say the lives of NSW residents are being put at risk because the government is delaying a “serious funding reform” for NSW Ambulance.
The Health Services Union (HSU) – which represents 3200 paramedics – has reported 23 instances over a one-month period when there were no intensive care paramedics on shift in Western Sydney.
“These are the men and women we turn to when a newborn needs to be resuscitated but NSW Ambulance seems to think this kind of cover is an optional extra,” HSU secretary xjmtzywGerard Hayes said.
NSW paramedic and delegate of the Australian Paramedics Association Brett Simpson said the staffing crisis gripping the industry had never been seen before.
Mr Simpson said there were about 50 emergency cases requiring an ambulance overnight, but no crews were available.
“I just didn’t have a crew to attend so we have got no idea how long those people waited but the crisis is here and it is gripping all parts of NSW,” he told Sunrise on Monday.
While the unions represent thousands of paramedics, only a small percentage of the workforce will be participating in the action, which will be limited to intensive care paramedics.
The top paramedics union said that NSW Ambulance are replacing specially trained intensive care paramedics on sick leave by splitting teams or requiring paramedics without intensive care training to cover their shift.
“This is penny pinching of the worst kind and we won’t stand for it,” Mr Hayes said.
“Our members will not be split and will not abandon the communities they are supposed to cover”.
“Every day the government delays a funding reform for NSW ambulance is another day they are choosing to put the community at risk.
“We have some of the lowest paramedic to population ratios in the country and on opponent … NSW ambulance is one of the worst funded ambulance services in the country.”
Mr Simpson said paramedics want the same staffing ratios that are seen in other states, while pay is also a “big problem”.
He said a large number of staff are being lost to other states purely because NSW has the lowest ratio in the country.
“I could go and work in Melbourne and make an extra $30,000 a year,” Mr Simpson said.
While paramedics are striking on Monday, nurses across the state are voting on a strike for March 31 which could also run for 24 hours.
Nurses are seeking a 4.75 per cent pay rise and are also asking for an increase in nurse to patient ratios on every shift.
They are also wanting a boost to maternity staff.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association held a strike on February 15, when thousands of nurses walked off the job for the first time in a decade.
Union representatives met Premier Dominic Perrottet and Health Minister Brad Hazzard just six days later where the issues of pay and staffing were raised, but nothing was resolved.
