By NOEL MURPHY
ALMOST 200 paramedics shifts went unfilled in the region last year, mostly due to bad rostering organised outside Geelong, according to the State Opposition.
Shadow health parliamentary secretary Wade Noonan labelled the centralised rostering system “a shambles” as he slated State Government over 192 unfilled shifts in the Barwon South West region, up from 154 in 2011.
“Every time a shift goes unfilled people living across the Barwon South West region are left dangerously exposed and entire communities are left without any ambulance cover, which is placing lives at risk,” Mr Noonan said.
The opposition released figures showing Ambulance Victoria left 2939 shifts unfilled across the state.
Mr Noonan pointed also blamed the unfilled shifts on excessive overtime, shift extensions, absenteeism and fatigue but cited rostering as the cause of “real problems”.
“Many paramedics have told me the centralised roster system is a shambles and that it needs to be handed back to the regional and rural management team.”
Ambulance Victoria said unfilled shifts did not mean ambulances were unavailable.
Barwon South west regional manager Mick Cameron said almost 99 per cent of its 240,000 shifts across the region operated as scheduled and that roster staff worked hard to meet demand..
“We often team local managers or ambulance community officers with a paramedic to form a crew and ensure responses are available in local areas,” Mr Cameron said.
“Our rostering department works hard to replace absent paramedics including using relief staff, co-ordinating with local managers and offering overtime.
“Paramedics obviously have choice in what they do when they’re off duty and if no one volunteers for that overtime shift it’s unfortunately unable to be filled.”
Paramedics have been wrangling with Spring Street at length over pay and conditions.
In the meantime, Ambulance Victoria has been failing to meet its code-one emergency response of 15 minutes at an 85 per cent benchmark. The service reached 75 per cent last financial year.
“It doesn’t matter whether you live in metropolitan Melbourne or regional Victoria, the fact is one in four ambulances are failing to respond to life-threatening emergencies within 15 minutes,” Mr Noonan said.
The Government has argued it had delivered a $151 million election promise to employ 310 extra paramedics and 30 patient transport officers.
