Over recent weeks it seems a perfect storm has hit us. Despite additional staffing and promises of more, case load, vacancies and hospital inaction has created huge problems for us all. It’s shocking that we see vacant shifts unfilled and workload pressure on those remaining members growing exponentially. The ultimate effect is that members move closer to exhaustion. These circumstances aren’t sustainable, and I know it is affecting everyone - on road staff, operational and executive managers, communications and admin staff.
We know now very clearly that whilst we need more beds in all our hospitals, the real problem with offload delay does not sit in the Emergency Department.
How can it be that once the TOC escalation procedure is activated beds can magically be found? We know that the RHH has been slow to respond to TOC delays in the ED. There is a massive lack of appreciation for how difficult it is to manage ramped patients and how hard it is for Ambulance to manage its own resources and respond to emergencies when the hospital turns a blind eye to what’s happening in the ED.
At the end of all of this is the patient who is languishing on the ramp and that patient who is left waiting for an ambulance because of it.
We continue to engage with AT, the THS and the Department about these things.
Higher Duties for Fixed Term employees
This seems to be another one of those things that’s fallen into the big black Department of Health Human Resources hole. Despite promises to fix it, which is in everyone’s interests, nothing has happened. HACSU will make an application to the Commission to fix the problem.
CPD Audit
Recently we received data from HR (after many delays) on a statewide audit of CPD payments to members. Guess what, there appears to be a problem. Yesterday we met with HR and AT to determine the extent of the problem and we are now awaiting further data. It is clear however, at least based on the data we have, that many members may not have received their full entitlement. HACSU will report back to you soon once we have received more information from HR.
HR Support
The above matters are symptomatic of the lack of dedicated HR staff existing in AT. This needs to change. HACSU is pressing the Department of Health to provide dedicated and specialist resources to AT in this area.
Fleet Management
We are seriously concerned about the safety of the AT fleet. Members in the south would be aware that a significantly damaged (and unreported) vehicle was found to be in operation recently. The reporting of this to staff raised major concerns about the way vehicle safety and fleet management is being managed by AT and the Department. We are currently meeting with AT to get a handle on what’s happening with the fleet and how vehicle maintenance and replacement is being managed. Stand by for more information on this.
CRU
Recently we have heard rumours that HACSU “want to kill the Southern CRU”. Well, that’s just a bold lie!
It is true that there are issues, mainly relating to the CRU never being properly funded and having been established from current crewing numbers. These circumstances have left nobody happy. The CRU members can’t do their job well because they are often tasked on normal ICP duties, and on road crews are unhappy that there is often a significant shortage of on road ICPs. Many questions exist regarding the future of the Southern CRU. CRU members have expressed their own concerns about the CRU’s future, and we share your concern and have asked that AT management establish a communications forum with staff to discuss the CRU’s future, when it might become permanent, what the process will be for the permanent establishment of the CRU and a multitude of questions CRU members have. AT have agreed to do this, and a virtual meeting will be set up over coming weeks for members to get answers to these questions.
Please don’t hesitate to contact HACSU with any concerns you might have. If you’ve been reluctant to do this because of rumours, you now know they are wrong!
Communications
Last week we conducted another visit in comms. During the visit, many members raised specific concerns regarding staffing and several matters specific to the work group. To this end, we are looking to establish a working group of comms members to progress and resolve these concerns. An EOI is out seeking that members join the group.
Car parking is a major issue for comms, with available car parking spaces not being available. Recently members have made a claim for parking costs out of frustration. Let’s see what AT’s response is to the claim. A rejection is likely to be met with significant anger from members!