TODAY MARKS THE LAUNCH OF A STATEWIDE CAMPAIGN AND INDUSTRIAL ACTION TO RAISE PUBLIC AWARENESS ABOUT THE IMPACTS OF HOSPITAL RAMPING OF AMBULANCES.
Tasmanian paramedics and communications officers are launching a campaign to raise public awareness about
the impacts of chronic levels of ambulance ramping.
The #Priority1 campaign will involve ambulance paramedics keeping a tally of how many hours they spend off
the road due to ramping, and chalk writing those details on ambulances.
“Every minute an ambulance is ramped is a minute it’s not responding to an emergency and that can be the
difference between life and death,” says Tim Jacobson, the State Secretary of the ambulance officers’ union,
HACSU.
“The Government need to get the message that ambulances are not hospital beds.
“Ambulances are designed to respond to emergencies, to get patients to hospital and to get back on the road,
not be parked for hours because there are no beds.”
Mr Jacobson says the #Priority1 campaign will include:
• updates on the level of hospital ramping of ambulances;
• HACSU Ambulance Members chalk writing on their trucks to communicate their concerns to the public;
• a Facebook page that details the impacts of ramping;
• widespread distribution of facts and figures about ramping and its impacts;
• and various public events.
“This is not about pay—our Members get paid whether they’re on a ramp or on the road”, Mr Jacobson says.
“This is about unacceptable stress placed on healthcare professionals, and unacceptable risks to people who
need ambulances to be able to respond. Our Ambulance Members are standing up in the public interest before
the system collapses due to inadequate resourcing.
“Hospital ramping of ambulances has reached epidemic proportions in this state and it’s simply got to stop. It’s a
waste of resources and it risks lives.”
HACSU State Secretary Tim Jacobson
