RED ALERT Northern Territory

08/07/2023

29/08/2022

31/08/2021

Yesterday’s NT news front page article does little but show the absolute disregard that is given to staff that work for the ambulance service.

The Director of Ambulance Service’s quoted response just shows how far the current contractor has strayed from meeting the requirements of the contract to provide 000 ambulance service for the NT.

“As Territorians we all have a responsibility to care for those in need until professional medical assistance can arrive,” he said. “For this reason we advocate for public first aid training”

The current 000 ambulance contractor is a first aid training and supplies business, it has little interest in the training and development of its ambulance service employees. It promotes first aid training for its business model, and the CPR training is an annual refresher, yet on-road ambulance staff do not receive annual training.

The same report that is quoted in the article that the Health Minister notes 7 of the recommendations have still not been implemented after 4 years!

These include
31) Funding be sought to support a more comprehensive workplace health and safety program, as a priority.

Ambos recently made a complaint to WorkSafe NT, and this was the only reason first time in 4 years that any effort was made to develop a fatigue management system. This is still not fit for purpose.

37) That SJAANT provide a structured training and education program catering for induction, mandatory re-certification, ongoing skills development and education, to the satisfaction of the contract manager, within six months of this report being tabled.

This has not occurred; staff are not trained in annual CPR and resuscitation. The contract manager should meet with employees and ask them about their training, or lack thereof.

38) Training and professional development be structured into workload and rostering schedules, and ambulance officers training and education time be monitored by the contract manager

The organisation has made no effort to structure training within rosters, they request employees train in online modules in their own time. This was found to be unacceptable in the Fong report!

Paramedics and our Emergency medical dispatchers spend their own free time, completing paid training run by external organisations, paying often thousands of dollars to remain up to date and highly skilled. Rest assured that the staff in the territory are here for you, and want to remain highly skilled, they are seeking support from their employer to do so.

To highlight how committed our staff are to Territorians, some highly motivated staff recognising this lack of training felt no choice but to develop (and continue to maintain) a continuing professional development educational platform and organise conferences and training with a focus on rural and remote ambulance healthcare issues.

Rest assured the ambulance staff care about their profession and development, even if their employer does not!

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Contact Health Minister Fyles, current ambulance service provider CEO Judith Barker and Director of Ambulance Services Andrew Thomas. Ask them why the NT ambulance service continues to have the highest turnover of staff of all Australian ambulance service, why staff are not receiving further training, and why there are not enough ambulances on the road or staff on the road and in our 000 call centre.

They will use any excuse but the truth. Don’t let them.....

21/08/2021

ALICE SPRINGS already stretched

Today in the territory is under resourced:

1 patient Transport member has been pulled off road today to cover a public duty (the horse racing) the Second Patient Transport officer then went on a road retrieval with a clinic. This has left a paramedic crew to go to a retrieval transfer with RFDS. This left no emergency resources on road.

The day manager and the Patient Transport then had to team up and respond to an emergency, which now left all options exhausted.

Mixed crewing is not a solution to under resourcing.

So in short 30% of Alice Springs’ resources were taken away to cover an event. This later led to a large portion of the day uncovered.

Alice springs staff have seen an increased need for more resources allocated but have largely gone unheard.

17/08/2021

TERRITORIANS BEWARE:

This is an image of the ambulance bay at RDH from day one of the lockdown.

The ambulance service is already stretched to breaking point, but when you combine the additional requirements of treating every 000 call as if the patient has COVID-19
- Full personal protective equipment must be worn for every 000 call regardless of what the call was for
- The ambulance crew must fully decontaminate the ambulance after every patient

Crews tell us the ambulance service did not put any extra ambulances on the road, knowing full well that each job will take longer, and crews will be extra fatigued and dehydrated due to working in the NT heat in gowns, masks, and goggles.

They also tell us that whilst in full PPE awaiting handover or decontaminating ambulances and equipment they were being paged with priority one jobs that require a lights and siren response and they were unable to attend immediately as they were still completing above tasks and were delayed.

Crews in Katherine tell us of the police having to transport a patient to hospital in severe pain because no ambulance was available for 2.5 hours!

Crews are telling us if they weren’t already broken from the relentless workload due to a completely under resourced ambulance service, and this may be the straw that broke the camel’s back. They say the comms and duty managers are doing all they can. Staff on road and in our COMMS centre want what is best for Territorians. We aren’t being heard.

The current ambulance service have proven they have utter disregard for their staff.

A crew tells us on the weekend after finishing a 12 hour shift at midnight, they received a call out just before 1am lasting till 2:20am, got home, only to be recalled again at 2:50am, and on calling their manager at 4:15am to request a 10 hour break due to extreme levels of fatigue and come in at 2pm, this was refused and an 8 hour break was authorised.

MORE RESOURCES NOW. Enough is enough.

St John NT Katherine Times ABC Darwin The NT News and Nine News Darwin and ABC NT and Mix FM The NT News NT Independent Natasha Fyles: Member for Nightcliff

12/08/2021

From a staff member who wants their message heard:

“I’m an intern for St John NT. I have had an amazing opportunity to work up here and meet all of my lovely colleagues. I have learnt plenty in my time here but the lack of adequate resources have definitely put a major strain throughout my intern year. I have spent most of my intern year working 12 hour shifts that never finish on time with no meal breaks on several occasions. With all the self directed learning and reflections that I have to do on my own time, I feel the fatigue catching up to me. I don’t think it’s safe for all of the crews to be worked flat out with no breaks and having to cover overtime shifts on their rostered days off. It also hinders my chance of learning from my senior paramedics as they’re going overworked/overtired throughout the month in which they’re trying to teach me. I have experienced a backlog of priority 1 jobs throughout the time I’ve worked here and I do think additional crews of paramedics would do a world of good! Not only would it be improving our quality of patient care, it would provide a more optimal learning environment for all new graduate paramedics that come through.”

Help these paramedics get more resources on road. Tell the government 4 ambulances isn’t enough for Darwin, we want to help you, but we need more staff and we need more crews in road.

A delay in an emergency can be dire.



St John NT step up - your staff need you

08/08/2021

The NT ambulance crisis deepens!

2 senior managers have resigned.

2 highly experienced and respected intensive care paramedics have resigned.

Paramedics are resigning across the territory, and positions remain vacant.

Significant staff concerns about Area Managers in remote locations not fit for the job.

Currently Katherine ambulance has a volunteer driving as St John can't staff it with paramedics as contracted to. This is unacceptable.

Yesterday saw two interns working together on crew. This is not only unacceptable, but also detrimental to their mentoring and development.

Calls for already tired EMDs and ambos to cover multiple overtime shifts on days off are a daily occurrence.

COMMS staff and duty managers in Darwin are doing everything they can to make solutions but you can’t fill a bucket with holes in it.

Shifts going unfilled, leaving an already grossly under resourced ambulance service struggling to meet demand.

When will the NT government fix this mess?

Staff surveyed recently found a toxic culture in St John management, and would consider a vote of no confidence in senior management.

Nothing has changed!

The NT public deserve a fit for purpose, well led, well resourced and well trained ambulance service.

They are not getting it!

Fatigue concerns by staff went unheard by management until staff were left with no option but to contact WorkSafe NT.

Contact St John CEO Judith Barker, and voice your disgust.

Contact Minister Fyles and tell her this is not acceptable.

Your EMDs and ambos needs your help! We are at a loss, and we care. Helps us help you.



St John Ambulance Australia NT step up.

Natasha Fyles: Member for Nightcliff your inaction is noted, fix this mess.

07/08/2021

St. John again last night held back a crew from a Code 1 call so they don’t have to pay mealies to paramedics - this shameful practice could happen to your loved one - when will St. John’s action be made accountable Natasha Fyles: Member for Nightcliff Raphaella Saroukos ABC Darwin

30/07/2021

St John NT knows that Friday nights and long weekends are busy. Why don’t they put an extra crew on to help with workloads. Expecting staff to work 10 hours without breaks is not sustainable. Your NT paramedics are exhausted - come on St John NT and NT Gvt Natasha Fyles: Member for Nightcliffstep up and fix this!

17/06/2021

Got an ambulance service in crisis?

What are you GUNNER do about it?

The NT government FYLES it in the too hard basket.

The NT ambos have had enough, they were surveyed, and 78% want the service back under government control. 72% are ready to walk away, nearly half due to burnout and toxic organisational culture.

The current contractor is a first aid sales and training provider, and trains volunteers for event first aid, and they excel at it.

They have proven they can't run an ambulance service, they are more interested in staffing paid events with frontline staff to the detriment of the ambulance service and NT public.

Peoples health and safety should come first.

Why are we still seeing no movement from St John NT and the NTG on ANY Alf these issues.

15/06/2021

The Territory IS under-resourced and shame on St John Ambulance Northern Territory and the Northern Territory Government for saying otherwise.

The public deserves the truth, and the truth is, we are under-resourced and we are fatigued.

Staff working for St John Ambulance NT were at breaking point a long time ago, and now they are at a complete loss of what to do.

Staff feel the organisation are not listening to their serious concerns about public welfare and their own well-being.

Today in Darwin staff have messaged us to say they have barely had breaks today and are fatigued.

This isn’t a once off, this is everyday. Staff are saying they are stressed on arrival to jobs knowing that people have been waiting for far too long for ambulances. Our Emergency medical dispatchers are stretched, constantly trying to balance and dispatch crews in a resource limited environment, and keeping people calm on the phone whilst knowing that they will have a long wait for an ambulance.

It’s not good enough. It’s not safe.

The Health Minister Natasha Fyles says she supports the ambulance staff however we feel that her lack of action speaks louder than her words.

Today a “low priority job” has waited from 0930, and an ambulance wasn’t able to respond till 1700.

A paramedic called us yesterday in tears because they felt that the service was letting their patients down and they were copping the brunt of it.

We are seeing too many delayed responses to Territorians in need of an Ambulance. Yet St John Ambulance NT and the Health Minister say everything is fine.

It’s not....

St John Ambulance Australia NT your staff are screaming at you to listen. When will you stop seeing profits and start seeing people?

9 News Darwin Katherine Times The Mango Inquirer Centralian Advocate NT Independent Mix 104.9 Katherine Community Radio The NT News ABC Darwin 104.1 Territory FM Gove FM Imparja Creative