Ambulance Active Spring 2011Published By Countrywide Austral

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HEADER Putting the genie put back in the bottle Phil Palmer, AEASA Secretary SA’s zero tolerance to ramping The SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) suffers most of the same maladies as those facing ambulance workers all over Australia – lack of resources both on the road and in communications, manifesting in terrible crib performance (broken and late), and an over-reliance on overtime to keep the service running. While SA does not have the same issue with ramping as other states we have not allowed it to gain momentum. There was an attempt to start the practice here, despite promises by the Labor Government during a recent election campaign. About this time last year, one of our major tertiary hospitals, Flinders Medical Centre, commenced ramping in another guise. They had ambulances lined up in the emergency department corridor attending to patients while waiting for a more definitive handover than triage provided. The excuse the hospital used was that they were having major renovations in the emergency department, which required some tolerance from all parties - although most of the tolerance seemed to be required of the ambos stuck in emergency doing the work of nurses while being prevented from covering the community. I suppose it could be called corridoring instead of ramping, but in the end they are both a symptom of the same thing - bed block in the emergency department, which arises from bed block elsewhere in the hospital. The Ambulance Employees Association SA (AEASA) commenced campaigning to resist the practice by using the media and revenue bans to embarrass Flinders Medical Centre, and the Government, into fixing the issue. The SA Industrial Commission issued the following directions: 1. The AEASA agrees to suspend all industrial bans including case cards and Cat C transfers 2. The previous agreement negotiated by the parties be reinstated 3. Flinders Medical Centre management to immediately put in place additional capacity in the Emergency Department – a concept known as Arrivals Model of Care 4. SA Ambulance management to place an appropriate operational officer at the Emergency Department whose job it will be to liase with the Emergency Department and the SAAS State Duty manager and ambulance crews in an endeavour to mitigate avoidable congestion at the Flinders Medical Centre. 5. Flinders Medical Centre management to liaise with NHS management to ensure that the movement of patients between NHS and Flinders Medical Centre takes into account issues of congestion at Flinders Medical Centre. 6. Flinders Medical Centre management to place notices in clear view of all staff at the Emergency Department, which provides appropriate information to avoid ramping or congestion of ambulances in the Emergency Department. The notices will be authorised by senior management at Flinders Medical Centre. 16 AMBULANCE ACTIVE SPRING 2011
HEADER Corridoring at Flinders Medical Centre. This was a good outcome. However, as nothing is straightforward in industrial relations, our dispute went through many phases including literal ramping rearing its ugly head. For a time following the initial public fuss the problem settled, only to reemerge as the peak season progressed worse than ever. Although, it never got to the magnitude of other states. We finally got to the point where we needed to once again do some ramping of our own. We put together a package of horror stories highlighting some critical incidents to tug at the heart strings of the public and to put the wind up the Government. This made front page news and got the desired result - Health Department officials working feverishly to clear beds elsewhere in the hospital system to create extra capacity to deal with patient surges. In excess of 100 beds were found. Post-acute patients, who could in fact be elsewhere - aged care, rural hospital, and convalescence/ rehabilitation, were occupying these beds. The Health Department has committed to an ongoing process of improving patient flow through the whole hospital system. While we were happy with these beds becoming available, it is clear that a more sustainable solution to ramping is increasing capacity systemwide so that demand can be met within the hospital without involving ambulance. The AEASA is advocating this position to all the Local Health Networks in Adelaide, and gaining some traction. The genie is indeed back in the bottle, but there are isolated incidents where a single crew is held on the ramp for 25 to 35 minutes, and occasionally up to an hour. While this may seem like a short time to other states, it is not consistent with our zero tolerance to ramping policy. We will continue to take it up to them until there are no incidents at all. About the SA Ambulance Union The Ambulance Employees Association of South Australia (AEASA) is a small, stand-alone union that covers only ambulance staff. It has a membership of about 1,200 and covers 99.5 percent of all operational staff in the state. The AEASA is not affiliated with any political party, nor is it part of any large national union. The AEASA came into existence in 1981 to fight for a professional ambulance service in SA, a goal achieved in 1989. It then went on to continuously improve members’ pay and conditions and was successful in winning professional recognition and pay for paramedics dating from 1 January 2007. AEASA Secretary Phil Palmer was elected in 1987 and remains in that position today. AMBULANCE ACTIVE SPRING 2011 17
Page 1: 02 SPRING 2011 Injured flight param
Page 4 and 5: Regulars From the President 05 Prof
Page 7 and 8: president HEADER STEVE McGhie, Pres
Page 9 and 10: national registration Why has NCAU
Page 12 and 13: PROFILE HEADER Ambulance Employees
Page 14 and 15: NCAU ACTIVE Queensland Determinatio
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Page 20 and 21: Cover story The fight to build a ne
Page 22 and 23: Cover story QAS colleagues visit Ja
Page 26 and 27: active places Community Paramedic m
Page 28 and 29: Medical jewellery has advanced grea
Page 30 and 31: Two letters can take the hospital t
Page 32 and 33: flashback Events that helped shape
Page 34 and 35: Your Scheme Your Security - Get cov
Page 36 and 37: Lend Lease is one of Australia's le
Page 38 and 39: competition Caption This For your c

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