For 40 years, Canberra’s paramedics have worked 14-hour night-shifts twice in a row, followed by day shifts – a “difficult shift pattern”, Mick Gentleman, ACT Minister for Fire and Emergency Services, put it today.
But a new roster will bring relief after four decades of gruelling shifts.
The ACT Government will invest $19.7 million over four years to increase the number of frontline paramedics and implement a new ACT Ambulance Service roster, Mr Gentleman said.
These changes mean an additional 11 paramedic crews will be rostered on over a 24-hour period, each paramedic only doing one night shift pattern now of 10 hours, followed by shoulder shifts during emergency times.
“While most Canberrans were having some time off over the Christmas break, taking it easy, our paramedics are working 24/7, keeping Canberrans safe,” Mr Gentleman said. “That’s why the government has realised we need to invest more in our paramedic service.”
Howard Wren ASM, Chief Officer of the ACT Ambulance Service, said a review of how paramedics work on the front line was long overdue.
“The new roster is matched to maximise the number of available crews across the busiest time of day,” Mr Wren said. “It also addresses the issues of fatigue and work life balance.”
Training and development requirements will be covered by rostered resources, and operational resourcing flexibility will be increased. Meal breaks will also be accessed more regularly, and there would be less need for paramedics to work past their shift times.
“It’s built in for us to allow a lot of training opportunities to occur on shift,” Mr Wren said. “This means that we don’t have to take people off shift and disrupt their shift pattern to the same extent as we do now. In an increasingly complex world, where delivering care to people outside the hospital in the community is becoming more and more difficult, this allows us to train people more effectively, while they are on shift with the people that they would be potentially work with if they actually went to a case. So we’re very grateful.”
The ACTAS enterprise agreement must be changed for the new roster. The ACT Government and the Transport Workers Union are in the final stages of negotiation.
