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Record Paramedics for Western Sydney

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Nearly a third of the NSW Government’s record paramedic workforce boost will go to Western Sydney in 2018-19, including the new Penrith superstation.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian, joined by Health Minister Brad Hazzard, Member for Penrith Stuart Ayres and NSW Ambulance Deputy Commissioner David Dutton, marked the official opening of the Penrith superstation by announcing 60 of 200 extra paramedics in 2018-19 would be for Western Sydney, including 12 at the Penrith superstation.

Ms Berejiklian said patients in the Blue Mountains and Western Sydney region will immediately benefit from the NSW Government’s record 750 extra paramedics and calltakers over the next four years announced in last week’s Budget.

“The NSW Government is investing more than $1 billion into NSW Ambulance in the Budget 2018-19 to ensure it continues to deliver world-class emergency care,” Ms Berejiklian said.

Mr Hazzard said communities across the State would benefit from the employment and training of the first round of 200 extra paramedics and 13 call centre staff in the coming 12 months.

“This is a record investment in the frontline paramedic workforce, and will immediately plug gaps right across NSW – we are deploying as many paramedics as is possible to train within the first year,” Mr Hazzard said.

Mr Ayres said the new Penrith superstation will better support paramedics to deliver emergency care to patients in the Nepean Blue Mountains region, Western Sydney and beyond.

“With an extra 60 paramedics in the greater Western Sydney region, we are going to see better response times, reduced paramedic fatigue and, ultimately, even better emergency care for our patients,” he said.

The Penrith superstation is one of nine being delivered in Sydney under the NSW Liberals & Nationals’ $150 million Sydney Ambulance Metropolitan Infrastructure Strategy.

The Penrith superstation includes:

  •          Parking bays for 22 ambulance vehicles
  •          A “Make Ready Logistics Team” to restock and clean emergency ambulances
  •          Fit-for-purpose medication room for restricted medications
  •          Capacity for emergency operations centre to coordinate major incidents
  •          External wash bay.

Today Mr Dutton also launched NSW Ambulance’s “Is Your Urgency An Emergency?” campaign, encouraging people to only call Triple Zero (000) in life-threatening or urgent cases.

“Only half of all Triple Zero calls made to NSW Ambulance – some 500,000 calls a year – are for medical emergencies,” Mr Dutton said.

“Patients should be assured an ambulance will be made available when required but I encourage everyone to free up paramedics for life-threatening situations and consider visiting a GP or pharmacist or calling healthdirect on 1800 022 222 in non-urgent cases.”

Other superstations being delivered include Bankstown, Kogarah, Liverpool, Northmead, Penrith, Artarmon, Caringbah and Haberfield.

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Stuart Ayres - Member for Penrith

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