The Tasmanian Liberal Government is committed to delivering real solutions that reduce the demand on our hospitals and ambulance services so that Tasmanians who need care, can get it faster.
One of these measures includes new Community Paramedics who have now been deployed across Tasmania to attend non-emergency triple zero callouts in a new plan to treat more patients in the community and keep Tasmanians out of hospital.
Community Paramedics will be valuable resources to care for patients who present with minor illness or injury, to be treated more quickly at their call-out location, freeing up ambulances to deal with urgent calls more quickly.
Our Community Paramedics will be dispatched either by our Emergency Medical Dispatchers, who will target them to a defined group of low-risk calls, or they may be tasked through our Secondary Triage service after a more comprehensive patient assessment has been undertaken by one of our highly-trained Secondary Triage nurses or paramedics.
Importantly, this will reduce pressure on hospitals by freeing up our ambulances to attend to higher priority emergency calls, and help to ease the pressure on Emergency Departments by caring for some patients in the comfort of their own homes rather than waiting for hours in our emergency departments.
Tasmania is leading the way, being the first in Australia to pilot this new model following the success seen in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, mainly in rural, remote, regional and urban areas.
As part of our commitment to support community care and alternative treatment initiatives, the Tasmanian Liberal Government has funded and trained these new Community Paramedic positions, ensuring that we have coverage across the State should a paramedic be on leave or unwell.
Specialised training included patient assessment, clinical decision-making, and specific clinical skills, equipping them to care for patients in the community without necessarily needing to visit the emergency department.
They’ll be rostered on to provide 16 hours of coverage a day in Launceston, Hobart and Ulverstone with Burnie to be added following the completion of the new station.
The hours of operation are consistent with the demand pressures experienced by frontline staff and the care needs of patients.
Ambulance Tasmania and the Tasmanian Government continue to develop new measures to reduce demand on the health system and are committed to ensuring all Tasmanians receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
This new model is yet another significant step towards improving the care Ambulance Tasmanian provides to communities right around the State.