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ADHSU delegates met with NSWA representatives yesterday in an attempt to settle the ongoing dispute over the employer forcing crews to respond before they are ready.

The current situation is not good enough. Paramedics have a choice: they either come in during unpaid time to adequately prepare for their shift, or they risk being sent to a patient without the correct medications or working equipment.

Paramedics are professionals and AHPRA requires them to ‘demonstrate appropriate levels of autonomy and professional judgement in a variety of practice settings’ and ‘assess each situation, determine the nature and severity of the problem and apply the required knowledge and experience to provide a response that is in the best interest of the patient/s’.

It is a registered paramedic’s responsibility to resist an employer directing them to cut corners by responding before mandatory commencement of shift checks are complete.

NSWA said they would go away and review the various contradictory WIs/Policy Directives/Legislation that government commencement of shift (one says be ready to respond within three minutes, another says s8 drugs must be formally taken into individual paramedic’s care, another says it’s mandatory to complete the mandatory commencement of shift checks, and the last one is the Health Practitioner Regulation Act). However, they haven’t committed to ceasing the practice of sending paramedics out before they are ready. On that basis ADHSU delegates gave NSWA notice that the action below would be commencing on Friday.

As members know, paramedics can be individually disciplined by the Paramedicine Council for breaching registration standards, including by failing to demonstrate appropriate levels of autonomy and professional judgment. If a member loses their registration, they cannot be employed as a paramedic anywhere in Australia.

ADHSU delegates ran a recent vote on the following bans/action/procedure:

1. Members to arrive at work at their rostered shift commencement time
2. Verbal sign on
3. Mandatory checks completed and medications signed out - Only at this point should members build their MDT and make themselves available to priority cases 2i and above
4. Secondary checks completed - Members are now available for all cases / assignments.

A total of 1553 members voted, with 1467 (94.5%) voting for and 86 (5.5%) voting against.

Given the result of the vote, the above will be in force from first day shift tomorrow morning – this action is indefinite.