UPDATE: NSW Ambulance has refuted claims from the Health Services Union (HSU) that a new policy implemented to combat helicopter paramedic fatigue has been abandoned.
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NSW Ambulance met with the HSU on Tuesday to clarify the interpretation of wording in the new policy regarding paramedics who perform a day shift before being on-call for night shifts.
The policy introduced by the Ministry of Health on Saturday, enforced a minimum 10-hour break between shifts for aero-medical paramedics.
“NSW Ambulance met with the HSU on Tuesday to clarify the interpretation of wording contained in the fatigue policy for critical care helicopter paramedics who perform day-shift proceeding to on-call night duties,” an Ambulance spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said it was agreed by both parties at the meeting, NSW Ambulance would “make changes to the wording of the policy and remove and any ambiguity” from the roster scheme.
NSW Ambulance said affected staff would be emailed the relevant changes to clarify their operational requirements of the paramedics.
EARLIER: AN EXTRAORDINARY policy back-flip has seen the state government abandon a new roster scheme to combat fatigue among helicopter paramedics, including several based in Tamworth.
Just four days ago, the health ministry introduced the fatigue policy, which enforced a minimum 10-hour break between shifts for aero-medical paramedics.
The NSW Health Services Union (HSU) initially welcomed the 10-hour break policy, but said regional helicopter bases such as Tamworth, would need at least one additional paramedic to make the roster system work.
Within 12 hours of calling on the government to put on three extra paramedics across Tamworth, Lismore and Orange, the HSU issued a statement announcing the fatigue policy had been abandoned.
NSW HSU secretary Gerard Hayes was very critical of the turn of events.
“They’ve realised it was going to cost them and that extra staff would be required,” Mr Hayes said.
They’ve realised it was going to cost them and that extra staff would be required
- Gerard Hayes - HSU Secretary
“How disingenuous can an organisation be? They believe in one level of safety required for work, but they did no homework and then realised there was a cost to do it.”
In statement on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Hayes said “this may be a world record for the shortest lived workplace fatigue policy.”
“It’s not funny though, we’re talking about serious situations where paramedics are on a winch, in the middle of the night and they’re tired,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the HSU called for more paramedics to be brought in to the regional helicopter bases to ensure the policy was successful.
The union said the government “must now decide whether to employ extra aero-medical paramedics, break its own rules or leave vast swathes of the state without aero-medical coverage.”
Mr Hayes said there “was no other way forward”, and called for increased staffing.
The Leader was awaiting a response from NSW Ambulance regarding the union’s claims.