Tamara Smith MP, Greens Member for Ballina, has announced today that the NSW government will provide additional paramedics in the Ballina Station as part of their commitment to 500 new regional paramedics across the state.
The first cohort of additional regional paramedics will begin their six week induction this month.
NSW Ambulance will be consulting with unions and local staff about the proposed locations. These consultations will include discussions on the optimal roster patterns to meet demand in the Ballina electorate, which spans Ballina and Byron Shires.
The Ballina community will see the arrival of these paramedics by the middle of the year.
As stated by Tamara Smith MP, Member for Ballina:
“Our community and our health professionals have been crying out for more paramedics and an extension of ambulance services in the Ballina electorate for many years. Finally, we are being listened to in Macquarie Street.
I welcome this extra resourcing that will directly improve the life chances of people in our community, and better support our ambulance personnel who have been working their guts out to save lives despite being under resourced and under paid.
Now we need an extension of the patient transfer system in the Northern Rivers so that our highly skilled paramedics can focus on life saving calls instead of being a taxi service for non-life-threatening patient transfers between hospitals.”
