Staff say triple-0 emergency call service is undermanned

Date
    December 26, 2013

James Robertson
Reporter


EXCLUSIVE

A woman was on hold for 13 minutes while calling for an ambulance this month, the second recent report of a lengthy delay and one described by the Health Minister as concerning.      

Last week, it was revealed that a triple-0 caller in August had spent up to 20 minutes on hold.

    When you can't take the calls - a spiral happens.

Ambulance NSW blamed that delay on ''unprecedented'' demand for ambulances but staff inside the call centre complained of chronic staffing shortages.       

A member of the public has contacted Fairfax Media to say she had waited 13 minutes when calling for an ambulance for someone at her work suspected to be suffering a heart complaint early this month.


''It just rang constantly,'' she said. ''Thankfully, this was not a case of someone bleeding out or not breathing.

''All I could think was, 'thank god, it's not one of my loved ones.'''

The woman got through to the front-line triple-0 call centre instantly but spent minutes on hold as an operator tried to connect her to an ambulance call centre.

Ambulance NSW did not deny this account and said it had received an ''avalanche'' of calls that day, causing delays between 7pm and 8pm. It said it was unaware of any patient's health being harmed as a result of the delay.

''I'm concerned by reports of NSW Ambulance call centre delays,'' Health Minister Jillian Skinner said. The minister said she would ask the head of Ambulance NSW to investigate the issue and brief her in the new year.

Staff at the NSW Ambulance call centre say delays answering calls are becoming more common because there are not enough staff for the rise in the number of calls.      

''There is a limit to what is humanly possible,'' one employee who works at the Sydney call centre for Ambulance NSW said. ''Most Sydney call takers [are] taking on average 150 to 200 calls in a 12-hour shift - that is a call every three minutes or so. When you can't take the calls - a spiral happens.''

The ambulance service receives a call once every 26 seconds - or more than 1 million a year - and between May and November this year it said 90 per cent of the calls were answered within six seconds.

A report by the Auditor-General in July found that requests to be taken to hospital in an ambulance were growing at a rate of 4 per cent a year in response to an ageing and growing population.

Ambulance NSW says it has increased the number of its full-time call centre staff by 7 per cent over the past five years.

A second report by the Auditor-General this month found the number of ambulance workers who had logged more than 500 hours' overtime was equivalent to the rest of the health sector combined.

The report also found Ambulance NSW staff were the least ''engaged'' of the entire workforce.

Opposition health spokesman Andrew McDonald said ambulance funding had not kept up with rising demand. ''We're slowly going backwards,'' he said.       

Mrs Skinner said the Ambulance NSW budget was at record levels and had increased 5.5 per cent this year.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/staff-say-triple0-emergency-call-service-is-undermanned-20131225-2zwrg.html#ixzz2ocIiceAR

''Most Sydney call takers [are] taking on average 150 to 200 calls in a 12-hour shift -

Whatever happened to an eight hour shift?

How have we managed to turn the tables backward in this bazaar alien freak working world we live in?

Who forgot that it's eight hours work, eight hours rest and eight hours play?

Greed inc.

There should be no excuse, for having emergency call centers understaffed.  Simply saying we can not afford it, does not wash.      

I had to call 000 on Christmas Day. The conversation went like this:
Operator: "What town or suburb are you in?"
Me: Name of suburb
Operator "Is that in Brisbane?"
Me: "Yes."
Operator: "I'll connect you to your local service."

The operator worked for Telstra...

Quote:





oh look its the DOOM AND GLOOM brigade..

someone didnt get a visit from santa did he???>.

does this guy ever find anything good to publish..

go away Mr Misery...you are such a bore..

Hope if you need an ambulance cods, someone can get through for you in reasonable time.      

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Dec 27^th, 2013 at 7:56am:

he ambulance service receives a call once every 26 seconds - or more than 1 million a year - and between May and November this year it said 90 per cent of the calls were answered within six seconds.

A report by the Auditor-General in July found that requests to be taken to hospital in an ambulance were growing at a rate of 4 per cent a year in response to an ageing and growing population.

Ambulance NSW says it has increased the number of its full-time call centre staff by 7 per cent over the past five years.

A second report by the Auditor-General this month found the number of ambulance workers who had logged more than 500 hours' overtime was equivalent to the rest of the health sector combined.

The report also found Ambulance NSW staff were the least ''engaged'' of the entire workforce.

Opposition health spokesman Andrew McDonald said ambulance funding had not kept up with rising demand. ''We're slowly going backwards,'' he said.   Sad    

Mrs Skinner said the Ambulance NSW budget was at record levels and had increased 5.5 per cent this year.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/staff-say-triple0-emergency-call-service-is-undermanned-20131225-2zwrg.html#ixzz2ocIiceAR
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I wonder if all those new welfare people that the LABOR GOVT encouraged to come here on riskety boats has anything to do with the congestion... .. nah almost sure they wouldnt want anything for nothing and add to our burden.