Page 199 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
recruitment for ambulance funding announced in 2010-11 of $5.113 million to enhance the capacity of the Ambulance Service to respond in a timely fashion to the ever growing number of 000 emergency calls.
The Ambulance Service is anticipating to meet the recruit target of an additional 30 front-line staff by May this year. The 2011-12 budget is delivering a range of recruitment strategies, including 15 new student paramedics commenced in May last year, six ambulance paramedics commenced in October last year and nine graduate paramedic interns commenced in November last year as well.
In addition, we have seen the establishment of a new quality, safety and risk management unit with all six headquarter positions in the Ambulance Service filled. This demonstrates that the government is getting on with the job—investing in services for our community to meet growing demand and recognising that our community needs additional ambulance crews on the ground to meet the ever growing demand we see in our community.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, a supplementary.
MR HARGREAVES: Can the minister advise the Assembly what steps the government is taking to improve attraction and retention of ambulance personnel in the ACT?
MR CORBELL: I thank Mr Hargreaves for the supplementary. I am pleased to advise the Assembly that, in the most recent report on government services released by the Productivity Commission this January, the ambulance service of the ACT recorded their third annual consecutive reduction in operational staff attrition rates. In 2007-08 our attrition rate was over 10 per cent. In 2008-09 it was at 10 per cent. In 2009-10 it was 7.2 per cent, and in 2010-11, the most recent reporting year, it has dropped to 4.6 per cent.
This government is doing the right thing in reducing the attrition rate, retaining our skilled, trained and highly professional ambulance staff and making sure they are available to meet the needs of the community. This attrition rate is now comparable to the Australian operational staff attrition rate of 4.5 per cent, so it is very close to the Australian average. This is despite a continuing national shortage of ambulance paramedics holding that intensive care ambulance qualification.
These staff are highly mobile. They have highly desirable skills, and they can really pick and choose where they work, whether it is in the public sector or in the private sector. A number of factors in my view are contributing to this excellent result. It includes, of course, the highly recognised professionalism and skill base of our ambulance intensive care paramedics, which has been recognised with their reclassification and determination of new work value and pay scales announced in April this year. We have seen record investment in ambulance services providing greater career opportunity and better support, and, of course, we are seeing strong investment in employee counselling and support to make sure that ambulance officers can compete and maintain their skill set.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video