Gerald Lynch
Star Weekly is looking back on its best stories of 2024. This story was originally published in April and Star Weekly has chosen to share it again for readers to enjoy.
The opening of a new ambulance station in Craigieburn isn’t something to celebrate say paramedics.
The new Yuroke Ambulance Station was opened on March 18 at 13 Sustainable Drive, Craigieburn.
The state government committed to building a new ambulance station in the northern suburbs in 2016, although the location wasn’t settled upon until September, 2022. The station was initially expected to be completed by the middle of 2023, but delays pushed the opening back to March.
The state government said the station would be staffed 24 hours a day and have enough bays to fit four ambulances, but will now only have three vehicles, of which two are being re-deployed from a nearby branch.
Paramedic Glenn Wilson said he is fed up with promises not being met, and a lack of work life balance for he and his colleagues.
The Victorian Ambulance Union is currently taking industrial action over a pay dispute with Ambulance Victoria. The union served a log of claims on Ambulance Victoria on February 1 2023, with improved sick leave, overtime entitlements and travel allowances among its requests.
“In addition to no new ambulances being made available to respond to the ever-expanding Craigieburn community, us paramedics are also concerned about being held back at hospitals due to ramping,” Mr Wilson said.
“Ambulances from other areas of Melbourne such as Sunbury and Epping are often dispatched to emergency cases in Craigieburn and Mickleham, causing significant delays for locals to receive help when they need it most.
“This includes cases of potential extreme emergencies where lights and sirens are used for patients who can’t breathe properly, might be having a heart attack or are unconscious.”
Paramedics in Craigieburn and Mickleham are concerned about the ongoing issues, and feel that the community is being tricked by the appearance of “new” resources that are not new, just relocated.
“We are concerned that Ambulance Victoria is simply redeploying existing ambulances and paramedics to the Yuroke branch to make it appear to the community that the ‘multi-million-dollar branch’ is being staffed, when in fact it is not currently providing any further benefit to the community,” Mr Wilson continued.
It is reported that Ambulance Victoria members work upwards of 800 hours of involuntary overtime each day, and while Mr Wilson said he understands it can come with the job, paramedics feel like their patience and boundaries are being pushed.
“Any ambo will tell you they expect to work some overtime when a patient urgently needs their skills, but our call taking system categorises people calling triple zero because they can’t afford a GP as an emergency,” he said.
“Members are ignored when simply requesting an on-time finish. One member was dispatched to a non-urgent patient in a health facility just three minutes before the end of her shift. She pleaded with AV management that she had to pick up her child from daycare but was refused.”
A combined survey conducted by Swinburne and RMIT University of Victorian Ambulance Union members saw that one in five paramedics are considering leaving their job within the next year.
A spokesperson from the state government said shortages weren’t an issue.
“There are no paramedic shortages. The Craigieburn community is well supported with the Craigieburn Ambulance station operating 24 hours a day to respond to emergencies in the community,“ they said.
“We’ve made record investments to support and grow our workforce – investing $2 billion since 2014 to strengthen our ambulance service, deliver more ambulance branches, and doubling the size of our paramedic workforce to what is now the largest of any Australian service.“
Ambulance Victoria was contacted for comment.
