Media release – Jeremy Rockliff, Premier, Minister for Health, 28 April 2022
More paramedics and 24/7 support for Sorell Ambulance Station
The Tasmanian Liberal Government is boosting our ambulance services in Sorell with the recruitment of an additional four paramedics, delivering a career station with fully qualified paramedic crews on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In the last 12 months, the Sorell Ambulance Station has experienced an increased demand responding to 1,187 incidents in the local area and, with the growing population of Sorell and the surrounding areas, the demands on the local ambulance resources are predicted to increase.
This investment, to be funded in the 2022-23 Budget, will accommodate the expected increase in demand and deliver four new additional full-time paramedics for the Sorell region, ensuring the community has the health services it needs for the future.
In addition to the eight newly announced positions located between Huonville and Sorell, we will also be recruiting three more full-time paramedics to assist in providing leave coverage across these Stations and others such as Kingston and Dodges Ferry, where necessary.
This is yet another important milestone in our commitment to Tasmania’s health system that has delivered more funding, more staffing and more health services than any previous government.
At the last election we committed to an additional 48 paramedics across the State, with 44 of these now filled, and the remainder of the positions being actively recruited.
We have also provided $9 million to upgrade our Ambulance fleet and deliver contemporary equipment our paramedics need, which will deliver 30 new ambulance vehicles in this financial year alone. These new vehicles will be equipped with best-practice systems and the build and fit-out will be completed right here in Tasmania.
I also want to acknowledge and thank the hardworking volunteer ambulance officers in Sorell who support their local community.
With this change, Ambulance Tasmania will continue its work with our dedicated volunteers to ensure they have an important and ongoing role within our community.
Our Government will continue to deliver on our strong Plan to improve health facilities across the State, including in our regional areas to ensure Tasmanians receive the right care at the right place at the right time.
Anita Dow MP, Shadow Health Minister, 28 April 2022
Rockliff barely scratching the surface in ambulance crisis
The announcement today by the Rockliff-Ferguson Government that it will finally provide around the clock paramedic coverage for the Sorell area is welcome but comes after years of inadequate funding and resourcing.
Premier and Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff still has a very long way to go to deliver on the government’s promises to provide proper resourcing for ambulance stations, paramedics and our wonderful volunteer ambulance officers who deserve everyone’s thanks for working tirelessly across Tasmania.
While the Premier has now announced new ambulance resources over the past two weeks for Huonville and Sorell – on the eve of the Legislative Council and Federal Elections – he continues to neglect the needs of our metropolitan and other regional areas.
Additionally, the Liberal Government has failed to deliver two ambulance super stations at Glenorchy and Burnie – promised four years ago, with not so much as a sod turned since.
It is no surprise Tasmania’s ambulance response times are the worst in the nation – blowing out by 30 per cent since the Liberals came to office.
The Rockliff-Ferguson government needs to deliver and provide additional resourcing to the entire ambulance service before hard working paramedics and volunteer ambulance officers fall over from exhaustion.
Glenorchy ambulance station joins long list of Liberal failures
The Liberal government’s complete failure to deliver a new ambulance superstation at Glenorchy is yet another broken promise to Tasmanians and a damning indictment of their commitment to better health services.
The Liberals first promised to build the superstation four years, two elections and three Premiers ago – with construction supposed to begin in 2018-19 and the station supposed to be open by last year.
But instead, the development went nowhere under then-Premier Will Hodgman and then his replacement Peter Gutwein.
The new Premier and Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff needs to do far better than his predecessors to support the greater Hobart area and our overworked and stressed paramedics.
The Health and Community Services Union has raised grave concerns about paramedics’ deteriorating mental health and wellbeing, and a ‘resilience scan’ commissioned by Ambulance Tasmania last September found more than a third of the 323 staff who took part suffered from depression, anxiety, stress or post-traumatic stress disorder.
It is no wonder our ambulance response times are the worst in the country – blowing out by 30 per cent since the Liberals came to office – and that communities are being left without emergency services as ambulances are diverted to other centres.
It is clear the Rockliff-Ferguson government needs to do much more to support our under-resourced and short-staffed paramedics, particularly with COVID adding to the pressures on hospitals and other health services.
If they want to be a government that delivers, they need to finally deliver on their promises to Tasmanians. The Glenorchy ambulance superstation would be a good start.
