LNP Queensland

Minister must answer on paramedic shortages

Last Updated (DATE_FORMAT_LC2) DATE_FORMAT_LC2

14 August 2008

Experienced paramedic staff shortages in Far North Queensland were a recipe for disaster and could no longer be covered-up by Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts, the State Opposition said today.

LNP emergency services spokesman Ted Malone said the serious issues raised by a whistleblower student paramedic needed direct answers and should not be swept under the carpet by the Minister.

"Student paramedics being left in charge of stations on their own for hours on end is simply not good enough, not just for when they are called to attend accidents, but also because it clearly puts undue stress on the students," Mr Malone said.

"The Minister and his senior managers need to come clean on the very serious allegation that ambulance call-out logs are being falsified to give the impression that student officers are acting as ‘back-ups’ when they are ‘first-responders’ because other units couldn’t respond.

"Falsifying logs is dishonest and simply should not be happening.

"It’s time for the spin from the Minister’s office to stop. You can’t keep on saying everything’s okay when clearly it’s not. Comments from senior managers there aren’t shortages of experienced staff aren’t believable.

"Peter Beattie promised us open and accountable government and Anna Bligh has repeated that promise ….yet we are still seeing emergency services staff forced to speak anonymously to the media too scared to speak openly for fear of reprisals.

"Queenslanders were promised the world’s best ambulance service when the government brought in the ambulance tax.

"This sort of thing is not acceptable and it’s about time the Minister stopped telling everyone that everything’s okay."