Ambulance insanity in Australia: Paperwork more important than patients

Up to eight paramedics were doing office jobs in Cairns' regional headquarters on Monday when a student paramedic was left in charge of the entire Cardwell area, a Queensland Ambulance source has said. The source told The Cairns Post an increasingly "top-heavy" ambulance service was to blame for causing a "potentially life-threatening" situation.

Queensland Ambulance Service Far Northern assistant commissioner Peter Cahill yesterday described Monday's rostering of an unqualified paramedic to a seven-hour solo shift in the Cardwell district south of Tully as "not ideal". "But our regular officer called in sick 20 minutes before the shift and it put us in a situation where we needed to find someone very quickly, we tried a number of staff members and the officer available to assist us was the student paramedic," Mr Cahill said after receiving a briefing on the incident.

The worried Queensland Ambulance source, who did not want to be named, said there were "any number" of qualified paramedics working in off-road jobs from management to training on Monday. The source said several were officers-in-charge whose positions had included on-road duties until about six months ago. "We're short-staffed but we're also top-heavy and for one-off occasions qualified people could cover a position," the source said.

Mr Cahill confirmed the student paramedic usually worked under supervision. He said other ambulance officers would have "been doing their roles at their stations". "We have certain numbers of staff to meet demand at certain stations. When these staff are busy doing their work, it is sometimes a bit tricky to relocate them," he said.

Ambulance Employers Association's Bob Lackey described Monday's situation as risky for both the student paramedic and the public with the nearest paramedics 44km from Cardwell at Tully. Emergency Services defended the student as one who has worked with the QAS for more than two years and is expected to be an advanced care paramedic by December.

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South Australian public hospital 'to refuse' referred patients

Patients referred to specialist clinics at Flinders Medical Centre will be denied appointments unless they are classified as high priority under a plan to reduce staff workloads, the Public Service Association says. Under the proposal that the PSA yesterday said was being considered by hospital management, only the most urgent cases would be booked into outpatient consulting clinics. To make an appointment, patients need a referral from an emergency department or their GP or medical specialist. Those referrals are then triaged by senior medical staff.

The PSA's chief industrial officer, Peter Christopher, said clerical staff had been told the hospital was examining "how to manage the workloads" because an internal funding request for two extra administration workers was still being negotiated. "Patients who don't fit the highest priority category simply won't get booked into any of the clinics to see the specialists they've been referred to when they present," he said.

Southern Health chief executive Cathy Miller said it was not an official policy but advice to staff from some hospital managers on how to cope with increased demand. "That's one way of categorising patients, but there are other interventions and approaches you can use in managing the workload," she said.

The clinics' administration staff, including ward clerks, last month introduced work bans in protest over "extraordinary" workloads. The work bans and limitations were suspended after a fortnight, but Mr Christopher said they could be "back on within a week or so". But Ms Miller said an extra staff member had been temporarily assigned to the clinics.

Opposition health spokeswoman Vickie Chapman said PSA members were frustrated because the long-running dispute had not been resolved. But a spokeswoman for Acting Health Minister Jay Weatherill said demand for services was rising across every city hospital.

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