West Australian government sends senior staff to St John as death investigated amidst ambulance delays
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Loading... - Henry Williams
- 18 May 2022
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Firefighters, police and government officials will be sent to bolster the ranks at St John WA as it tries to cope with huge staff shortages due to COVID-19.
Senior police and health department officials will be embedded in the embattled ambulance service, while 48 firefighters will receive training in how to operate ambulances and work with paramedics.
St John CEO Michelle Fyfe welcomed the extra help but warned it was "not a silver" bullet and would not solve all problems.
Premier Mark McGowan said two senior WA Police officers and two Health Department officers, including a senior doctor, would work at St John's headquarters from Thursday.
It comes amidst significant staff furloughing in the ambulance service and in the wake of an elderly woman's death on Sunday while waiting for an ambulance.
Georgina Wild waited more than two hours for an ambulance on Sunday morning, despite reporting of chest pain which should have seen an ambulance attend within 15 minutes.
On that morning St John was experiencing a 40 per cent shortfall of staff, largely due to COVID-19, with the number of ambulances active in the metropolitan area reduced from 40 to 24.
The incident is being investigated but has been labelled as "unacceptable" by Mr McGowan.
The Premier said St John could have activated a COVID-plan to have firefighters drive ambulances, but it did not.
New staff to get COVID-19 plan working
Mr McGowan said the new staff seconded to St John would be tasked with making sure it took such measures when needed.
"They are specifically being tasked by the government to access more resources across government and activate the COVID plan that was put in place with St John in 2020," he said.
"That will be their role, to work in conjunction with the management of St John, to access additional resources and fix some of the issues that have caused some of these problems.
"They had the COVID plan available, they didn't request the assistance.
"What we are now going to do is make sure we have personnel there who can work with St John senior management to get additional resources in when they need it."
Mr McGowan said firefighters were highly trained in first aid and in driving heavy vehicles, and it would be sensible to see them paired with a paramedic as a driver while staff levels were low.
Ms Wild was the third woman to die in a month after issues with the ambulance service, following the deaths of a Geraldton woman while waiting for an ambulance, and a Busselton woman who was in the care of paramedics when she died after waiting three hours for treatment.
'Alternative should have been provided': Minister
Record ambulance ramping over the last few months has also slashed the number of hours ambulances are spending on the roads.
However, Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said delays to ambulance response times on Sunday, when Ms Wild died, were not the result of ramping.
"The issue that was challenging the ambulance service was furlough and lack of staff available to actually get in the ambulances and drive them," she said.
Ms Sanderson said there would be more multi-agency support to prevent such a situation being repeated in future.
"Where there is intense pressure you'll already have police there, you'll already have one of the state incident controllers there, who can reach out to DFES and police to provide assistance, or an alternative," she said.
"What should happen is that St John need to activate every part of their business continuity plan, which involves very experienced emergency professionals to be able to assist them, and to be able to be flexible in actually attending those jobs.
"What should have happened on Sunday is an alternative should have been provided if they were not able to send an ambulance."
Union-supported intention to take over St John: Opposition
Liberal Party leader David Honey said the state's hospitals and levels of ambulance ramping were in crisis but he welcomed the measures to provide more support to St John.
"I've only had a small chance to look at those, but they seem like they are sensible measures, and what we want to see from the government is cooperation with St John, not standing back and being critical of them," he said.
"St John Ambulance are responsible for saving tens of thousands of lives over the years, they provide an outstanding service."
Mr Honey also accused the government of having a "union-supported" intention to make the ambulance service a government service.
A parliamentary inquiry is expected to report this week on whether ambulance services should be taken back into the public sector. Read More...
