IR ‘fuels’ ambo crisis

Alex de Vos
State Government has blamed a new pay agreement for a shortage of paramedics in the Geelong region last weekend.
But Ambulance Victoria has pinned the blame on bad luck with sick leave and “budget constraints”.
Police had to use a divisional van to ferry a man seriously injured in a bashing outside Geelong’s Room 99 nightclub to hospital on Saturday night.
Police resorted to their van after hearing an ambulance would not be available for an hour.
The victim, who suffered a broken nose, cuts and bruises, later underwent emergency surgery in Geelong Hospital.
The incident stirred public anger when the man’s father revealed it on Melbourne radio this week.
A spokesperson for Health Minister Daniel Andrews suggested the lack of ambulances in Geelong on the weekend was an industrial relations issue.
“You need to speak with Ambulance Victoria about staffing and (the) signing of a new enterprise bargaining agreement,” the spokesperson said.
“Last year the Government finalised a new pay agreement with the union, paramedics and Ambulance Victoria, which provides improved working conditions and greater flexibility for paramedics.”
The spokesperson said the Government had provided “a $185.6 million boost to ambulance services, including recruiting an extra 258 paramedics”.
“We’ve also boosted services in the area…at Geelong, Lara, Torquay and Anglesea.”
Ambulance Victoria’s regional operations manager Mick Cameron blamed an outbreak of sick leave and financial issues for the shortage of ambulances.
“I’ve contacted the father of the patient from the case on Saturday night and explained that we had three crews off on sick leave on Saturday night for the broader region, which is a higher-than-normal number,” Mr Cameron said.
“We normally have seven crews in the broader Geelong and Barwon region, so to have three of those off sick has a real impact.
“We contacted a lot of paramedics and asked them to work overtime but…overtime is a voluntary decision and we can’t force paramedics to work when they are not rostered.”
Mr Cameron said it would be “great” to increase ambulance services in the Geelong region.
“It obviously needs to be done within the constraints of our budget and where they’re going to make the most impact.”