In between the bushfires, the pandemic and everything else that occurred during 2020, many dedicated ADHSU delegates continued to make the case for increasing the amount of paramedic specialists available to the community across the state.

This work started back in 2019 when ADHSU members were surveyed asking their views on the current state of paramedic specialisation. Only 22% of respondents believed there were enough paramedic specialists serving patients in their local community. 97% said specialists should be posted in rural and regional locations. 82% said the Government should allow any capable paramedic who puts their hand up to become an ICP and/or ECP to be given that opportunity.

ADHSU delegates have been contacting and meeting with local MPs about this issue since the initial survey.

Early last year the Health Minister invited ADHSU and the MoH (who opposes the increases we ask for) to provide a submission for his consideration. Here’s a link to the ADHSU submission: ADHSU Paramedic specialisation submission.

We received this response from the Minister and have been invited to a meeting to discuss next steps with the Service on Thursday 11 March.

There is a chance we’ll win everything we asked for in the submission.

However, there’s also a good chance we won’t.

ADHSU delegates will consider the offer from the Minister, and if it’s anything less than what was asked for in the 2019 survey we will come back to members to ask what action they want to take to fight for the rest of our demands.

If you are one of the hundreds of new members who have joined since this survey was published and want to have your say, take a moment to respond here.

ADHSU Submission

Minister’s response