Ambulance staff welcome meal breaks signal from St John

Media release: FIRST Union
Tuesday 28 May, 2013

Ambulance staff welcome meal breaks signal from St John

Foreshadowed relief for frontline emergency paramedics to gain more regular access to meal breaks is being welcomed by the union representing paramedics in Auckland.

St John chief executive Peter Bradley has this week acknowledged morale among frontline staff was low and that workers were not getting the breaks they needed, and signalled improvements were coming.
Crews are currently being expected to regularly work for periods beyond the mandatory five and half hour threshold, said Neil Chapman, Ambulance Sector Coordinator for FIRST Union.

“Paramedics need regular access to meal breaks.  This highly specialised primary healthcare profession is not only high stress but also very exhausting and physically demanding,” he said.

“Essentially this whole issue is about good health and safety practice.  Funders of St John need to seriously consider the position they are putting St John and its workforce in.”

“With dramatic population growth across the city it is time for the funders of primary health to seriously rethink their approach to deliver more realistic funding levels across the emergency health services sector.”

Neil Chapman said workload demand can be better managed when there is a full compliment of crews available and ready to respond. 

“Current practice is that for high demand times absent crews aren’t replaced by recalling other off-duty personnel to maintain the overall response capability.  This means that overall workloads are compressed across a reduced number of frontline crews. 

“We have been arguing for some time to have frontline crewing numbers increased due to the phenomenal demand the service is experiencing.”

A comprehensive review of operating procedures was currently underway with employer and union representatives evaluating practices that would enable frontline crews to gain access to regular breaks during 12 hour day and night shifts, Neil Chapman said.

ENDS

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