News

For the second time in less than a month, the Ballarat State Emergency Control Centre (BALSECC) has run severely understaffed on a Saturday night. On 30 September 2023, after the AFL Grand Final, BALSECC ran without any Ambulance Victoria Duty Manager, Communications Support Paramedics or Admin Support Officers.

That meant that only two Clinicians and ESTA staff were present at BALSECC, and the Metropolitan State Emergency Control Centre (THOSECC) had to manage ambulance resourcing for the entire State.  

Then on Saturday 21 October 2023, staffing at BALSECC was reduced to a single CSP, two Clinicians and ESTA staff. Again, THOSECC had to manage the workload for the entire State.

On both occasions, despite the efforts of rosters members to fill shifts, no additional staff were put on at THOSECC to provide support.

This creates an overwhelming and unsafe workload for the remaining staff. It also means crews have reduced availability to seek assistance with safety issues, occupational violence matters, meal breaks, ramping, end of shift management, resourcing decisions, emergency management and crew welfare issues.

As your CEO advised in June, AV have structures and processes for you to escalate concerns. On a Saturday night, crews escalate to the control rooms and when they are not properly staffed, members go without the support they need, while working on-road.

For years AV have failed to permanently recruit sufficient staff for the control rooms, and with over 2200 new paramedics recruited over the past eight years, there has not been a commensurate increase in areas such as communications. Members have acted in DM roles for up to fifteen years because AV have refused to permanently fill these positions. This is despite the union advocating to temper large volume paramedic recruitment and to target recruiting for areas such as communications, rosters, education, payroll and HR who support the crews on-road.

Members who experienced any difficulty getting access to appropriate support are reminded to report through HSCS or RiskMan as well as to the union.

These are also matters that are important to raise with your Health and Safety Representative (HSR). Recently AV have taken steps to obstruct HSRs and VAU Delegates from attending meetings to discuss the concerns raised by communications staff. There are significant penalties on employers who obstruct HSRs from performing their role.

The VAU have raised this matter with the Victorian Government.