Members in NSWA Control met last week and, in an online vote, have made it clear that they will not back down on the log of claims for a better award for Non-Clinical Control Centre Officers.

The results from the action survey have come in and this week, the fight with the Ministry of Health ramps up. The Control log of claims is designed to future-proof the Control Centre for the organisation, paramedics, patients and the community. The full log of claims can be found here.

Prior to the ADHSU’s Priority 1 campaign at the end of 2023, the difference between a Clinical and Non-Clinical Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD) performing the same duties was an average of 6.91%. Now the difference has jumped to an average of 17.8%. Under the current pay proposal from the Ministry of Health, this gap would continue to balloon out to an average difference of 22.68% by January 2025. This would mean workers side by side, performing the same duties, would be earning vastly different amounts – causing disunity and threatening the future capacity of NSWA Control to attract and retain skilled and experienced staff.

ADHSU members know how important the clinical skills of paramedic EMDs are and are fighting for the gap to return to a more reasonable average difference of 6.56%, with the paramedic Control Centre Officer Allowance ensuring the skills and training of Clinical EMDs continue to be appropriately acknowledged by the Service.

All ADHSU members should familiarise themselves with the below actions designed to agitate for a better award. Commencing first day shift, Monday 10 June 2024, ADHSU members in Control will:

• Ban R5s, R6s & R7s, unless out of scope (PTS), end of life, end of shift hot swaps or any other case deemed necessary.
• Not manage bed block. No member will manage or follow up transfer of care delays.
• Do no stamping or recording of call outs.
• Not participate in PDPs and Sick Leave Review meetings.
• ADHSU DCCOs & SCCOs will do no Sharepoint documentation.

ADHSU members are used to fighting for better conditions to ensure they can provide the best level of care to patients and their communities. The worst possible outcome for the Emergency response capacity of the Service would be to let Control degrade by allowing such a huge discrepancy to continue.