Ambos 'flogged to death'
TWENTY-four hour shifts and bullying are among a rash of new complaints outlined by stressed ambulance officers.
Following a series of exclusive reports by The Cairns Post, more Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics yesterday came forward to detail the staffing shortfalls and other problems plaguing the service across the Far North.
They said overworked staff were sometimes too tired to even fill in their time-sheets properly at the end of shifts that extended to 24-hours in smaller centres with an overnight on-call component.
"Everyone's being flogged to death but what choice do you have when there aren't enough staff and you've got a moral obligation to the community?" one paramedic said.
Others told of a culture of bullying when complaints were made to management.
The paramedics who rang The Cairns Post yesterday said they felt compelled to speak out before a patient's life was "put on the line".
Their complaints come after revelations this week that a student paramedic was left in charge of the entire Cardwell region for seven hours on Monday. The nearest qualified paramedic was more than 40km away in Tully.
Their concerns also follow the death last month of a Cairns World War II Digger who waited more than two hours for an ambulance to come from Kuranda the day he died.
One paramedic described that situation as a "regular problem", saying he knew of a recent case where a Code 1 job outside the Cairns casino needed to be responded to by Kuranda and another less serious case where Gordonvale's unit had to be sent to Yorkeys Knob.
Queensland Ambulance Service's new Far Northern assistant commissioner Peter Cahill denied there was a shortage of ambulance officers and said he had not been briefed on any bullying issues.
Mr Cahill said he would look into incidents if he had firm evidence. But he said the Far North region had a good record for response rates, with 50 per cent of Cairns and coastal region cases being responded to in 7.4 minutes, which was under the state average.
He conceded 24-hour shifts were a long-standing practice for smaller stations but said staff were only on-call overnight for emergencies.
Opposition spokesman Ted Malone called on Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts to "stop covering up staff shortages".
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Service in crisis: Twenty-four hour shifts and bullying are among a rash of new complaints outlined by stressed ambulance officers.
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