Over the weekend Queensland paramedics had 188 jobs that were sourced and on Monday morning there were still 155 jobs outstanding.

The average number of Triple Zero (000) calls during March is 3300, with Friday experiencing a surge of over 3700 calls, indicating that there is major issue here in Queensland.

Health Minister Tim Nicholls told Peter Fegan on 4BC Breakfast, “The ambulance service cancelled non-essential training, offered overtime to the workforce and redirected neighbouring districts who weren’t experiencing the surge into Metro South and Metro North particularly to answer those calls.”

“But no, it’s not good enough having people there for that long and that’s why we’re working hard to make sure that we’ve got the workforce available to deliver it, that we’re resourcing things properly and that we’re also dealing with that ambulance ramping rate.”

“Ambulances are waiting too long after they get to a hospital, after they’ve discharged their patient, to get back onto the road and it’s a mighty task.”

“Our ambulance officers, the paramedics do a mighty job, but they can’t be expected to do it all,” Mr. Nicholls said.

Hear more highlights from Peter Fegan below:

Image: Facebook/Tim Nicholls MP/iStock

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