Rostering failures by NSW Ambulance leaves rural towns without crews
Invaluable Ambulance crews are being forced to plug gaps outside their communities because NSW Ambulance isn’t back-filling funded positions.
When some paramedics or crews can’t make their shift for whatever reason, they are not replaced because that position is being viewed as an extra.
“NSW Ambulance has been allocated $1.76 billion to put on hundreds more paramedics. Our communities needed these medical professionals. They are not a luxury add-on that don’t need to be replaced,” Health Services Union Secretary Gerard Hayes said.
The Taxpayer Funded Rosters campaign, led by members of the Health Services Union (HSU), is calling on the NSW Government to ensure every paramedic crew that is funded is actually maintained. Delegates are also meeting with local MPs to lobby for action.
The failure to replace these positions means paramedics are working through breaks and clocking up excessive overtime which is leading to dangerous fatigue levels. The reality is clear—patients are waiting longer for care, and lives are at risk.
The previous NSW Government committed $1.76 billion to fund 1,800 additional paramedics over four years, with the current Labor Government further promising 500 additional regional paramedics.
“These promises of more paramedics are meaningless if NSW Ambulance does not properly maintain the rosters these funds were meant to support,” Gerard Hayes said.
“When the government funds three paramedic crews in a community, that community deserves to have three paramedic crews available—not fewer.
“Right now, we are seeing a system where funded positions go unfilled, leaving communities dangerously under-served.”
NSW Ambulance, through poor rostering practices, routinely pulls paramedic crews from smaller rural towns into major regional centres, or sometimes into Metropolitan Sydney, stripping communities of essential emergency services.
Crews meant for Central Coast are being sent to North Sydney, Rutherford and Outer Hunter crews are being redirected to Newcastle, and South Coast paramedics are frequently being sucked into Goulburn, leaving smaller rural areas without life-saving ambulance coverage.
This practice is a slap in the face to communities outside the major cities and major regional centres that already suffer from a lack of healthcare access.
Unlike major regional centres, some smaller towns do not have hospitals with emergency departments or large-scale medical resources.
“When a paramedic crew is funded for a rural town, it should stay in that town. People in smaller rural areas already have fewer healthcare options than those in larger centres. Taking their paramedic crews away to pad response times in bigger cities is an insult and a direct risk to lives.”
The Human Cost of Poor Staffing Practices
This failure to maintain staffing levels has devastating consequences:
Delayed emergency responses: Fewer paramedics on duty mean longer wait times for ambulances, which can result in preventable deaths.
Increased strain on paramedics: Fatigue and burnout are at crisis levels, with paramedics forced to work overtime, often past their 12-hour shifts without breaks.
Greater pressure on hospitals: Paramedics do more than transport patients—they provide critical care that can prevent hospital presentations. When ambulance services are stretched too thin, more patients flood emergency departments.
To arrange interviews, contact Kathleen Ferguson on 0421 522 080