Jon Noble 9301 2167
Joondalup Depot
Karen Vance TBA
Wangara Depot
Samantha Wright 6397 7454
Kwinana Depot Depot
Anne Briede TBA
Busselton Depot
Amanda Howell 0400 522 569
Narrogin Depot
Police non-attendance at VKI received calls.
As you will be aware a recent WAPOL directive has been sent out to the fleet stating they will not be attending many of our historic calls for assistance. Over half of the warnings, we had on our system are now deleted.
So, now we have instances where patients on scene have been threatening to kill others and the Police are refusing to attend.
This is beyond dangerous for all front line crews
If you arrive at a scene or are sent to a call where you and you perceive a threat on route. CALL FOR POLICE, that’s your job done! It is NOT OUR JOB to enter scenes such as these, its theirs. If they don’t want to attend, then we do not go in. ITS THAT SIMPLE!
Officers who feel pressured to enter a scene they perceive is dangerous should NOT GO INTO IT.
The AEAWA will support its members 100%
YOUR SAFETY IS OUR PRIORITY
Everyone deserves to go home after shift, uninjured.
Section 33.3 (h)
St John may require an Employee, and the Employee must provide, satisfactory documentary evidence in relation to a period of personal/carer’s leave. The Employee must provide to St John a medical certificate from a registered health practitioner. If it is not reasonably practicable to provide a medical certificate, the Employee may provide a statutory declaration, which sets out the reasons for the Employees absence from work and the estimated duration of the Employees incapacity.
Section 33.3 (i)
An Employee is required to provide evidence/certification for any personal leave exceeding 2 continuous days or where they have taken in excess of 4 calendar days in any calendar year.
Workplace Law: Fact of the Day
An employer can give you lawful and reasonable instruction, and wilfully ignoring a lawful and reasonable instruction can be considered serious misconduct which can lead to termination. The crucial issue is whether an instruction is ‘reasonable and lawful’.
An employee cannot be expected to follow an employer’s directive ‘if carrying out such a directive would cause serious or imminent risk to the health or safety of the employee or other workers’. Refusing to follow a directive under such circumstances does NOT constitute serious misconduct and therefore CANNOT result in summary dismissal.
The AEAWA would consider inadequate Infection Prevention & Control measures as constituting a serious/imminent risk to the health of yourself, your co-workers and your patients, especially during a declared health emergency pandemic. Therefore in our opinion an instruction which would lead to such an OH&S risk will be neither lawful nor reasonable.
In accordance with our EBA, any manager (whether operational or clinical, on secondment or permanent appointed) seeking to work an on road shift with a Paramedic or Ambulance Officer, needs the prior agreement of the rostered officer. This is part of our EBA, and affords officers protection against potential conflict of interest occurring, in the course of that shift, or in relation to previous and future disciplinary process.
Prior to the commencement of the shift, you should have been contacted by rosters to gain your consent. Of course there may well be no issues on many occasions, but if an officers feels uncomfortable through previous managerial interactions, they have the right to refuse and we will support them 100%.
This morning you would have received an email from the St John WA Ambulance Service Director. This email was sent during a meeting between St John management and the AEAWA regarding their intended ramping strategies. During the course of this meeting, St John WA sent the email to the workforce before any real consultation had taken place, and certainly before the meeting had even concluded. A section of this email states that ‘double up of suitable patients is mandatory’.
This was not discussed in the meeting. As we have previously, we would like to take this opportunity to remind our members that so called ‘multi-patient care’ is not endorsed as routine by the AEAWA, and it is an issue which we remain in dispute over.
The AEAWA object to the use of the term ‘mandatory’ without providing suitable qualification on the following grounds:
Despite this directive, the Patient Flow and Ramping SOP remains the guiding document in relation to ‘multi-patient care’. We would remind our members that suitability (or not) of a specific patient for ‘multi patient care’ is determined, as per the SOP, by a clinical ‘discussion between the ATTENDING OFFICERS’ of both crews. It is NOT a clinical discussion between the HLM/AM as they have played no part in either patient’s clinical care, nor will they play a part in clinical care going forward.
For the benefit of our members, the SOP states that certain patients ‘may not be suitable for multiple patient care’ including:
It is our view that the wording is clear; the SOP indicates that there are a range of patients that are unsuitable for ‘multiple patient care’ including patients requiring ongoing cardiac monitoring.
In relation to ‘ongoing cardiac monitoring’ the Clinical Services intranet site ‘Lessons Learned’
dated 13th January 2021 states: ‘Where available, almost everyone should get an ECG’ [and] ‘Broadly speaking, if your patient falls under any of the Neurological, Respiratory or Circulation CPG, there’s a very good chance that the patient should have at least a 3-lead ECG applied’ [and goes on] ‘In conclusion, in most patients & as a bare minimum, a 3-lead ECG should form a part of standard monitoring & observations.’
The safety of our members and our patients is paramount.
There have been a number of serious clinical events occur on the ramp, so please be mindful of this additional clinical risk when accepting multiple patient care arrangements. It may be necessary to request an additional CorPuls monitor if requested to undertake multi patient care.
SJA has had ample time (in fact 12 years) to work alongside the Department of Health to understand the most significant question in relation to ramping; who owns the patient? As always contact an AEAWA committee member should you have any issues.
Recently we have been contacted by an increasing number of our members who have either been called or texted by the staff deployment team while OFF DUTY. This has resulted in interrupted R&R, interrupted sleep between night shifts, interrupted family time AND can often result in excessive travel time to different depots, when officers feel obliged to make an extra effort to get to the new depot on time.
We would like to remind our members of the following:
The AEAWA believe it is important for the health and well being of our members to be able to peacefully enjoy time off…time for which they are NOT BEING PAID. The organisation has an obligation to adequately recruit, train and retain staff so that shifts are covered. It has a responsibility to have enough ambulances to run the service. It is self-evident that SJA like to rely on a proportion of Spare officers per roster to help fill cracks in the system, but you are under NO obligation to facilitate this mechanism (which is generally only beneficial to SJA) by acknowledging calls or texts while OFF shift.
For example, should an officer receive a text message in advance of their night shift, advising of a change of depot, they can rest assured that they will be completely secure in ONLY checking their phone AFTER arriving at the depot they were originally rostered to, and then using a WORK vehicle / ambulance to travel to the requested destination.
Most insurance companies do not cover the use of a private vehicle to travel BETWEEN work locations, they simply cover the commute TO and FROM work. When signing your registration declaration, it usually asks for private or work related use. Once on duty please ensure you use an AMBULANCE to move to your alternate depot, only AFTER your shift has commenced, and that you RETURN to your rostered depot in time for the end of your original shift.
You are entitled to request a return to your starting depot, in time for the end of your shift. If you choose to answer your phone prior to the start of your shift and are given an instruction to relocate, then you must comply, but you should claim ‘Time and Travel’ to the new depot.
Please note this advice is given without taking anything away from the hard work undertaken by our dedicated rosters colleagues. They do an absolutely AMAZING job given the current circumstances. We simply ask that our LEADERSHIP place less pressure on our rosters colleagues to interrupt downtime, so that adequate resourcing occurs, and our members can enjoy the full extent of their time OFF DUTY.
Tim Dunlop 9221 4842
Kenny Nelson 9221 4842
Karl Hunt 9221 4842
Nigel Schumann 9373 3843
Lee Waller 0417 995 135
Lee Waller 0417 995 135
Aaron Pittaway 9368 2510
Paul Davies (Taff) 9353 1912
Andrew Kerfoot 0415 409 627
John Thomas 0411 129 797
Darryl Payne 9302 5728
Jane Mathers 9302 5728
Brett Moore 0417 910 348
Dave Higgins 9364 9410
Troy Sayer 9364 9410
Rob Sauer 9364 9410
Rick Candy 0407 399 396
Rick Candy 0407 399 396
Mike Hardwick 0417 983 140
Brendon Mosel 9334 6052
Dave Fasolo 9334 6052
Arjang Pirmorady 9457 0010
Kirsty Roberts 9529 2853
Rex Bullock 9523 4791
Darryn Kelly 9523 4791
Chris Austin 9525 9990
Jesse George 9381 5335
Ed Doran 9381 5335
Daniel Mariner 9561 1648
Bronwyn Herne 9470 3014
Travis Kendrick 9334 1285
Andrew Lake 9334 1285
Declan O’Neill 9447 6029
Mike Ficko 9841 4212
Ed McLean 9841 4212
Mark Wilding 9797 0728
Dave Bryant 9791 4999
Chris Smith 9791 4999
Todd Jones 0439 982 205
Gary Davies 9192 0714
Andrew Eyre 9791 4999
Lee Waller 0417 995 135
Justin Ingrey 0438 646 351
Phil Stanatis 0429 018 849
Matt Neville 0449 798 031
Damian Freeman 9071 1618
Andrew Kerfoot 0415 409 627
Suleen Van Der Westhuizen 9729 3458
Brett Moore 0417 910 348
Shannan Bradley 9185 1222
Shane Gray 9168 2844
Jon Flockton TBA
Wendy Blackman TBA
Amanda Howell 0400 522 569
Dale Reid 9621 1613
Christine Hunter 9531 3322
Here you will find all of the Certified Agreements related to Ambulance Transport Officers.
Meeting Chaired By
Brody Munyard.
Meeting Conducted
12:30 -15:30.
Committee Attendees
There were no AEAWA Committee attendees due to multiple member representations and AEAWA commitments at the Fair Work Commission. All member queries were sent to St John to action.
Committee Apologies
John Thomas, Mike Hardwick, Lee Waller, Dave Higgins, Jon Noble and Karren Gerristen.
SJA Attendees
Brody Munyard, Tony Fitzgerald, and Florentina Min.
Agenda Items
Overtime Process
Many members do not like the process of continually calling comms to state they have to knock off on time. At numerous JCCs the discussion of an AmbiCad function has been discussed with a simple ‘Yes’, ‘No’ response to would you like to do OT.
Again, St John can not seem to answer this question. The response the AEAWA received had no answer to the AmbiCad message. At previous JCCs the AEAWA had mentioned many members feel ‘pressured’ to do the call.
St John stated that they have audited numerous calls and have found no instances were this has occurred. The AEAWA would like to remind members that if they do feel pressured. They should note the details of the call (who they spoke to, the time/date or case number, and why they believed they felt pressured), so the AEAWA can provide specific examples to St John to rectify this issue.
Members Want to Know the St John Definition of Reasonable Overtime
Dependent on what manager is asked, to what dispatcher is asked, you get multiple answers, which causes issues across the fleet.
St John are currently working on a Policy to define this; incidentally, this is the same Policy we have been asking for 3-years….. so you may need to read it on days off… it could be long.
Members Would Like to Know if St John Keep Records of Those Who Refuse Shift Extensions?
St John were going to check if there is a record of those who refuse to do shift extensions. The response was ‘we do not keep a record of employees who refuse to do overtime. However, if it is an ongoing issue, we will flag it with their team leader for follow up’.
To flag ongoing issues, they need to keep a record of it. Although the email response states they do not record crews saying no to shift extensions, the AEAWA believes they do, or they will commence that practice.
This in mind, and there has been no definition of what reasonable overtime is, what you perceive as reasonably may not be what St John perceives. In short, we will continue to push the fact that it is up to them as an organisation to allow you to knock off on time, and that the continual practice to beg to finish your shift on time is not supported by the AEAWA.
Community Calls to 4×4 Crews
St John was asked to look into the allocation of community calls to the 4×4 crews to ensure they are evenly spread. St John reviewed this and have stated this is occurring, and the spread of that workload is relatively even. They did reiterate if there is further information, or some who believe this is not the case, they are happy to review these details again.
FSH Directive for Transport Crews
St John was asked to speak to FSH and ask the question regarding paperwork, as crews are often required to split to facilitate the documentation. It was basically asked by the membership; what would they like us to do when a patient requires two people to manage them, and one of us has to leave?
St John was advised by FSH; the crew looking after the patient can ask for assistance from the hospital staff if their condition is deteriorating. If the patient is of a higher risk, we need to question their suitability for Patient Transport.
The Senior St John management team will raise with FSH and TL’s to support with advice around which patients are not suitable for PTS. Although this is great for high riskpatients, it wasn’t our question.
Each and every crew needs to split during these times. Our question is, what happens if a solo Transport Officer (as their partner has walked away to do paperwork) has a patient who is deemed an appropriate transport allocated job, suddenly deteriorates whilst on the stretcher.
The AEAWA will again try to get this question answered.
Fulltime Officers Applying for Country Relief
There were reports of officers being denied the opportunity to do country relief positions because they were mentors. This led to discussions of unfair practices and discrimination against members who were mentors.
St John have stated that they have resolved this issue, and those who are mentors can apply away for positions. Again, if this issue returns members are advised to contact St John or the AEAWA to discuss these further.
Wheelchair Van Update
Any new vehicles that do come online will not be trialled first; the operation is completely the same as the current ones only small changes like a baggage compartment and draws in the rear.
The decision was made to start production of all at once to get them replaced quicker. The first is due shortly and it should be operational by the end of July. Vehicles are replaced based on the replacement schedule. Oldest vehicles replaced first.
Wheelchair Van Taking Double Up Calls
St Johns have advised the Communications Officers that Wheelchair vans should not be doubling up on patients, and that should not be at the discretion of staff. This is a huge safety win for the membership.
Any officer working in this vehicle should not be transporting multiple patients at a time. You can advise if you are asked to, you can not take more than one patient.
If you have any issues, please contact the AEAWA immediately and we will discuss this again with senior management.
Window Tinting
Members asked if these vehicles could be tinted, due to the levels of heat entering the cabin. Previously the vehicles were fitted with privacy tinting, which was removed at it caused nausea with a percentage of patients.
St Johns have stated that they will be tinted shortly. If any member feels the tinting is substandard, they can contact the AEAWA to again raise as an issue.
Overtime Allocation
Members would like to see an overtime policy throughout the regions. In most cases, overtime is going to casuals first and full timers last. In some areas, it is full-time staff first.
Members want a clear St John’s process for overtime allocation, and also asked do Regional Managers have the ability to change this policy.
St Johns responded that they would provide shifts to casuals first and full-timers last, declined to answer the question on weather Regional Managers can simply change the Policy, and then advised that again… the Policy is in development.
If anyone ever visits development….. could you please bring back all the Policies.
Transport/Medic Contracts
There appears to be uncertainty and confusion regarding contracts for many officers. Emails to Employee Relations often go unanswered, and members often obtain wrong or misleading information. It seems not many senior staff at St John are aware of these contracts.
The AEAWA would like to know who the St John contact person is relating to employee contracts and is there a policy on timeframes this person has to answer questions. Many employees have been waiting months.
The response sent back to the AEAWA was ‘we need more information. If you provide us with an example, we’re happy to look into it. Employees who have been waiting can also follow up with their line managers’.
The first part regarding confusion was clearly answered. We again were not provided with details of who the contact person. When it comes to organisational timeframes St John had another episode of amnesia.
The AEAWA believe these questions could be answered relatively quickly, so we will again resend the questions.
LAR Expression of Interest
Numerous full-time staff who applied to work with a LAR Medic for the winter plan were unsuccessful with their application. However, it appears that some officers who had just finished being mentored, and casual employees were successful. Many believe that being full time with St John often hinders them in applying for such positions.
Can St John provide the classification (full time, Part time, Casual) of these officers who were successful?
St John responded by stating the selection for the LAR winter plan was randomised, and applications must have been received by the due date. The selection criteria were ATO’s who had completed CEP with the TOM training. There is a mix of full time, casuals and part-timers in the pool. Selection on who is used is dependent on availability, preference of shift colour, location etc.
The AEAWA will ask for the definition of ‘randomised’; is this a chook raffle, spin the wheel, names out of a hat or the first 10 you see go through.
Casual and Part-Time Limited Shifts
We have been told that casuals have been limited to 3 shifts per week and weekenders are limited to 2 shifts per week. The issue being is, some casuals are still working 5 shifts a week, and others are being limited. Are rosters following the policy?
This process has always been in place and used to ensure equal shifts are given to all casuals and weekenders. The AEAWA understand this…. We helped develop it for fairness and transparency.
In saying this, St John are having issues filling shifts especially the casual roster. Coincidentally this is the same scenario the AEAWA stated would happen when St John removed numerous casuals from the roster. There was a clear view of St John that they had too many casual employees.
St John also advised that initially everyone will receive the same amount of shifts, then those who can do more will be offered more dependent on availability.
Stryker/Ferno Training
Members have approached the AEAWA stating that some of our newer officers have been trained on the Stryker Stretchers and not Fernos, which has created issues when they have been rostered to a Ferno vehicle.
The AEAWA would like to know if during training, the officers are signed off on both devices, and what does that training package contain?
St Johns state all officers are trained in both Ferno and Stryker stretchers. This training is covered under the manual handling delivery, which is a 1-day course with refreshers throughout and assessments (skill sign offs).
For the Stryker Stretcher specifically, students are enrolled in an LMS course which includes a quiz and a sign-off for their practical skills. For the Fernos, there are no online LMS courses, but there are practical skills and signoffs for their assessments.
LAR Winter Plan
There has been some confusion when Transport Officers work with Medics for this plan. The question has been asked, if it is the Transport Officer’s day to attend and they are called to a community call, who attends it?
Some officers are declining to attend as they state community calls are not within their scope, while some attend as they are working with a Medic. This cause confusion amongst officers. Can St John please provide some clarification.
St John believe that a TOM can attend if it’s within their scope. If outside TOM’s scope, then LAR attends. St John will email those within the program to alleviate any concerns and provide that clarity to any concerned officers.
The 4×4 Trial
The trial appears to have been extended again, and members are suggesting it is the same officers who are approached to work it. Has there been an Expression of Interest put out to the troops? What is the process to work these shifts?
At the moment, St John are working through the EOI process if any vacancies arise. There is a plan to fill these positions on a permanent basis in the future. When this occurs, there will be a proper application process for the position.
Stryker Roll Out
There appears to be a reduction in new vehicles and upgrades to old ones. Are we able to get an update on the timeframe to sort all vehicles, and how many are being worked on at this point in time?
St John replied ‘PTS has over 50% Strykers currently. The Fleet Manager is also no longer with us, so we are still working on it. PTS had 3 Stryker’s rolled out this month. St John is getting 8 per month and this is allocated between PTS, Metro and Country’.
Lunch Break Allocation
We understand that the new PTS Agreement is not currently active (when this initial query was asked), so the ‘lunch break’ clause has not commenced however, members are advising us that they have been stood down from a job and put on a lunch break in the middle of the freeway or a busy road, with no consideration to the crew. This leads to poor morale, and many officers not being able to access any facilities to have a break.
The new PTS Certified Agreement is no active. St John stated, ‘no one is expected to take a break in the middle of the freeway’. Please advise the AEAWA if there is any deviation at all to your lunch break entitlement. As this would be viewed and a breach of your Agreement.
For clarity your entitlement is
26 MEAL BREAKS
(a) Employees are entitled to one uninterrupted 30 minute paid meal break on shifts of 8.5 hours or more, not to be taken within the first two and a half hours or the last two hours of the shift unless mutually agreed between St John and the Employee with the following conditions:
(i) the meal break cannot be taken within the first two and a half hours or the last two hours of the shift unless mutually agreed between St John and the Employee; and
(ii) the break may be interrupted to meet urgent operational needs.
(b) The meal break will be counted as time worked.
(c) St John will direct a meal break to be taken:
(i) when operationally suitable; and
(ii) within the meal break span specified in clause 26(a)(i).
(d) If an Employee’s meal break is interrupted, in accordance with clause 26 (a) (ii) or if the Employee is not provided a meal break in accordance with this clause, the Employee shall be paid a meal break penalty in accordance with APPENDIX 2.
(e) Employees are only entitled to claim one meal break penalty per shift.
(f) St John may direct Employees to take a meal break:
(i) when an Employee is at a facility with adequate amenities including access to toilets, drinks, food and/or reheating and seating facilities (e.g., a hospital, a station or St John property).; or 34
(ii) where an Employee notifies they are at a location they would like to take a break (e.g., a café, shopping center or outdoor location).
(g) St John may direct an Employee to attend a suitable meal break facility for the purposes of taking a meal break.
(h) An Employee who is directed to take a meal break and refuses will not be entitled to the meal break penalty under clause 26(d) or a subsequent break during the remainder of their shift.
KWI71 Conversion
At the last JCC a discussion took place on the conversion of KWI71. St John stated that the vehicle was in effect closed and the roster changed as no one on the list wanted the position.
When the minutes were posted, the AEAWA was contacted from officers on that list who have never been contacted for that position.
St John replied ‘These positions are held by two officers. They have been held since 2020. Those people are currently on varied hours contracts. They are not working in the allocated spot currently. When we have another van, we will restart Kwinana 71 shift’.
Meeting Closed
15:30.
Next Meeting
TBA – sometime in September.
Meeting Chaired By
Brody Munyard.
Meeting Conducted
14:00 -16:00.
Committee Attendees
Lee Waller, Jon Noble, and Karen Gerristen.
Committee Apologies
John Thomas, Mike Hardwick, Dave Higgins, Samantah Wright, Anne Breide and Amanda Howell.
SJA Attendees
Carly Rees, Brody Munyard, Stephanie Freemantle, and Kate Lawrence.
St John Agenda Items
EBA
Ambulance Transport Officers have voted in favour for the Patient Transport Services Agreement.
• Of the eligible 365 employees, 260 employee votes were cast.
• 85.8% voted “Yes” to the Agreement (223 votes)
• 14.2% voted “No” to the Agreement (37 votes)
The Agreement will be sent to Fair Work for approval. Usually they are approved within 21-days, however if there are any amendments required this could delay the process. If that occurs communication to members contained within the Patient Transport Services Agreement will occur.
Workload
There was a total of 324 transport jobs performed last month and St John are actively promoting the service to acquire more business. St John stated that weekends are becoming quieter, but there is still business potential they could work towards.
The PATCH Program
The program has been extended to north metro (QE2), and FSH will be on-line in four weeks in the south metro region. Currently, St John are waiting to see the Serco contract to understand how this will work.
Transport Team Leaders
The feedback so far is that the new Teams Leaders are working well and appear very invested in the role. They have met with a large section of the workforce across the metropolitan area and so far the program has been accepted very well.
Transformation Project
Further information regarding the Transformation Project will be provided to all officers over the coming weeks.
Certificate III in Non-Emergency Transport
Finally, after a long time of ‘requesting’, Ambulance Transport Officers can now gain access to this qualification. St John had ten officers involved in the pilot, and they will be issues with their certificates in the coming weeks.
Clinical Education are currently looking at the program, in essence, how can they place the extra training into the annual CEP. There is current talks happening around the costs of gaining the First Aid qualification required for the qualification. At this point St John want employees to pay for it.
Basically, watch this space to see what happens.
AEAWA Items
AmbiCad Response for Overtime/Shift Extension
Many members do not like the process of continually calling comms to state they have to knock off on time. At numerous JCCs the discussion of an AmbiCad function has been discussed with a simple ‘Yes’, ‘No’ response to would you like to do OT.
This has been briefly discussed; however, it appears to be a long way from being implemented. St John appear to be more invested in employees phoning the call centre daily to state you do not want to do overtime…. Most likely so you are recorded saying it.
Members want to know the St John definition of what reasonable overtime is. Dependent on what manager is asked, to what dispatcher is asked, you get multiple answers.
Basically, there isn’t a definition, and yes there needs to be one. This is the current issue. The AEAWA stated that the organisation needs to get employees home on time, and just because a job is there, with no one available to do it, is a factor that happens in this organisation every day.
The fact there few resources rests on the organisation, not the employee. If St John cannot get to calls, its clear they need to utilise there resources better, or get more.
The AEAWA also stated that certain crews feel pressured to do these calls and acquiring long shift extensions, it is not just a simple ‘can you do the job’, with a ‘yes’, ‘no’ answer and that’s it.
During the conversation, St John stated they will audit calls were employees feel like they ae being forced into doing overtime.
Allocation of Country Calls to 4×4 Crews
Many members have raised concerns with the allocation of country calls. On the 4×4 roster one crew was given Geraldton day 1, day 2 was Albany, day 3 was a Wheatbelt call. This leads to concerns of fatigue, and again the issue of sharing these calls across the fleet.
St John will look at this and try to formulate a system where officers are not required to travel excessively, and where possible those calls will be spread across the fleet. St John have admitted that some transfers can be extremely dangerous, and they are reviewing this.
Reasonable Overtime
Each officer, dispatcher and manager have a different perception of what is reasonable. Members would like to know what St John think is ‘reasonable’. There is also a need to discuss accumulative overtime across the fortnight. Geraldton crews are often allocated out of town transfers between Kalbarri, Northampton, Three Springs, Morawa, Mullewa, Dongara, and Jurien Bay, often receiving these calls a few hours before their shift ends.
St John are currently reviewing long and consistent transfers across these regions and will return soon.
The New 4×4 Roster
The addition off the 4×4 ATO crews out of Kwinana, Shenton Park and Osbourne Park has seen the closure of Kwinana 71, Shenton Park 71, and Osbourne Park 73. Members have had their name down on the depot request system for these closed shifts for a long time and would like clarification as to what is going to happen now, they have been converted to 4×4 shifts.
For example, will the officers on the list for the Mon-Fri vans that have been closed be offered to take that shift permanent? Or will the officers currently rostered onto it be offered it first?
St John are looking to introduced more of these shifts so they stated they would like to get it right. Those on the lists will stay, and no officer will be disadvantaged. St John stated that all officers on those lists declined the position.
The Cancelation of Weekend Shifts
The recent email sent to employees over the cancelation of weekend shifts has left numerous officers not happy, including the AEAWA. Your committee raised some questions to St John in order to reduce this happening again.
The issue was the email sent out to employees, stating due to low workloads there would be no WATOs rostered over the Easter weekend period. Part-timers read this email, and as it only addressed ‘casuals’ many still went to work.
As employees working these shifts would have been on a higher rate of pay, and St John did not want to pay that, they pulled all of the shifts from the permanent part-time officers.
Many did not know this until the night before, and some were not contacted at all and went to work.
Other areas in the business are given the option to work, of have that day off as a public holiday day. However, in this case, they weren’t even told.
The AEAWA asked St John to pay those officers that arrived to work and were sent home. St John will review this. If you are a part-timer who had no notification, arriving at work on the Easter Saturday or Sunday, and were sent home, please email [email protected].
FSH Directive for Transport Crews.
Crews have been told they need to be apart for extended periods due to the FSH new handover process. The driver and the patient are required to stay in one area whilst the attendant does the handover and prints all of the documentation. This often takes up to 30-minutes and is causing concern amongst the membership.
The AEAWA would like St John to talk to FSH and ask for a process of what a crew should do if they require both officers to remain with the patient. This way at least we have a system in place to protect officers.
St John will raise a Clinical Risk with FSH and will advise of the outcome. Whilst we wait for that, the AEAWA would like all officers, who believe two officers need to remain with the patient at all times to do the following.
1. Call FSH and advise them that both officers need to remain with they patient, so can the handover be done over the phone, and can the paperwork be organised by them.
2. Call PTS Comms and advise them of the delay.
3. If you are asked to just do the job, ensure you are on a recorded line, stating that officers should remain with the patient due to ‘X’, ‘Y’, ‘Z’. This way you have stated your concerns.
Shifts Available
Members are stating in the country some regional managers are giving overtime shifts to just casuals whilst others are giving them to full timers only. What is the policy, and why is there disparity across the regions.
A policy will be implemented for further transparency as even St John release the dishing out of over time shifts is not a clear process. This document will be provided over the coming weeks for review.
Roster System
As of the next roster, a new system will be implemented that is easy use for all PTS employees. Training will occur later this week with PTS managers on using the new platform. Its an upgrade to the roster, which is a simplified version; were all excel spreadsheets are incorporated into a single sheet.
Wheelchair Vehicle Update
The new vehicles are not ready yet. The were pushed to the side due to the Extended Care Paramedic (ECP) vehicles that were required to be placed into service. They are, however, the next vehicles to be placed into the fleet. Further updates will be sent out shortly.
Wheelchair Vehicle Tinting
Members have asked for the vehicles to be tinted. Privacy tinting should be placed on these vehicles, as they get extremely hot. St John will look into this and will advise of that answer shortly.
Kalgoorlie Job Description
Members have raised concern regarding the detail in the description. Basically, it states that if you are a mentor, you may be ineligible to apply for the position. The AEAWA believe that this is discriminatory and leads to a culture of officers removing themselves from the tutor list, so they can apply for country positions.
St John agreed, and stated further positions should not be advertised as such. The AEAWA will monitor future applications to ensure they are transparent.
Meeting Closed
16:00.
Next Meeting
TBA
Meeting Chaired By
Brody Munyard
Meeting Conducted
10:30-12:43.
Committee Attendees
Mike Hardwick, Lee Waller and Jon Noble.
Committee Apologies
John Thomas and Karen Gerristen
SJA Attendees
Brody Munyard, Tony Fitzgerald, Liane Tuck, Freyja Petursson and Stephanie Freemantle.
St John Agenda Items
Call Distribution
There have been 73,000 patients transported in the previous 12-months and 313 were transported on 12 January 2024 alone. There is lots of competitors in the market for transfers and St John are trying to claw some of these transfers back.
The AEAWA had previously asked for a ‘heat map’ of the calls for Transport, citing that areas such as Lancelin/Jurien Bay have significantly increased the call volume of transport suitable patients over the past 18-months. The AEAWA wanted to see where the transport call volumes are predominantly located in comparison to the locations of the transport fleet.
St John again answered that they will provide the information as they don’t actually map the workload for transport locations and job volume.
Country Transfers EOIs
Members have asked for fairness and transparency regarding allocating crews for country transfers. Some officers are doing 2-3 a week, whilst other are nor being provided the opportunity.
The AEAWA have asked that a database be kept by St John in the interest of ‘sharing the love’ for crews that wish to do these types of country runs.
Initially St John stated this would be difficult to manager and the allocation considers numerous factors such as
• crew start and finishing times
• Stryker stretcher capability
• location of crew
• job planning for crews
St Johns are however happy to further discuss this.
PTS Crews at O’Connor Depot
St John stated that there is a not enough space at this time to locate a PTS crew, especially after the proposal for a Medic crew to be located there is gaining traction. Further reviews will occur shortly.
Closed Vans Data
St John will provide data at the next JCC.
Mentoring for Weekenders
Members who commence employment parttime (Saturday and Sunday roster), take longer to complete their mentoring shifts than those working full time. An issue occurred were some part timers were allowed to work on the weekdays to progress their tutoring time and others were told they are weekend only workers and were denied this.
Surprise surprise, yet another instance was one manager reads the Agreement or a policy and has a complete opposite interpretation than another manager. St John stated this should not have happened, the AEAWA stated we know, but it did, that’s why we are here to discuss it. This is why the AEAWA want to stop this occurring week in week out, by making these managers accountable for their decisions.
New Agenda Items
Baby Blankets
Members are stating they feel pressured to accepting calls where the Baby Blanket is required. St John have been advised by the AEAWA numerous times that this is a direct violation of the manufacturer’s warranty and use of the device.
This is causing numerous delays and stress to those officers pressured into doing the transfer. The AEAWA would like this issue finalised at this Transport JCC.
This has been discussed at the following JCCs without any answer from St John.
1. 4th October 2021,
2. 3rd May 2022,
3. 9th August 2022,
4. 20th February 2023, and
5. 13th September 2023.
Well some great news. Ther Ferno Baby Blanket. DO NOT USE IT. And St Johns have agreed. It still must stay in the vehicle, but you do not use that piece of equipment. Any member who feels pressured to use it, contact the AEAWA immediately.
AmbiCad Response for Overtime/Shift Extension
Many members do not like the process of continually calling comms to state they have to knock off on time. At numerous JCCs the discussion of an AmbiCad function has been discussed with a simple ‘Yes’, ‘No’ response to would you like to do OT.
Members want to know the St John definition of what reasonable overtime is. Dependent on what manager is asked, to what dispatcher is asked, you get multiple answers. Another question is, does St John under the ‘reasonable overtime’ rule take into account accumulated overtime? In essence an hour of overtime on one shift to some may sound reasonable, but if you are required do this on a daily basis, the membership believes it is not.
This has been discussed at the following JCCs without any answer from St John
1. 3rd May 2022, and
2. 9th August 2022.
This is still being reviewed by St John.
Modified 79 Times
Members have been contacting the AEAWA regarding their times being altered, specifically their ‘79’ times. On some occasions the arrival times have been wound back up to an hour. St John gave an undertaking that they would review this and provide an answer on why this was occurring.
This has been discussed at the following JCCs without any answer from St John.
1. 4th October 2021,
2. 9th August 2022, and
3. 20th February 2023.
St John again, will review this matter.
Certification Non-Emergency Transport
The AEAWA brought up numerous times members receiving this qualification. At each discussion St John have stated that employees will get this qualification. The project was given to someone who has left the organisation. The AEAWA would like to know the status of this. Are employees receiving this qualification, and if so, when?
This has been discussed at the following JCCs without any answer from St John.
1. 20th February 2023, and
2. 13th September 2023.
Work in the background is currently occurring and St John do have an appetite to see this qualification awarded to their transport fleet.
CPAT Staffing Pilot
St John added an agenda item for staffing the CPAT vehicle and were looking at staffing the CPAT permanently. The AEAWA would like to know the status of the pilot, and who is eligible to apply for the position. Will an EOI go out to all officers?
This has been discussed at the following JCCs without any answer from St John.
1. 20th February 2023.
The review is still occurring and information will be shared at upcoming JCCs.
Country Transfers
Members approached the AEAWA regarding the allocation of crews to do country transfers. Some officers appear to get 2-3 a week whilst others never get allocated one. Members would like to know what the process is when allocating crews to these calls.
The AEAWA suggested an EOI go out to all officers, get a list of those keen to do them, and were possible divide the transfers as best as you can. It’s not a hard thing to do. St John appeared to like this idea, and they will return to the table at the next JCC to discuss options. Currently, these calls are mainly given to Casuals over full time officers, which is strange as casuals cost more.
This has been discussed at the following JCCs without any answer from St John.
1. 13th September 2023
This again will be looked at.
The Transport 4×4 Roster
Members would like to know if the expression of interest for Ambulance Transport Officers to work the 4 on 4 off roster was on the intranet or was it emailed to all officers? Many are stating that only the chosen few were sent the email, and that not everyone had the fair right to apply for the position.
The fairness of applying for positions is something St John want to achieve. They would like the AEAWA to gain information regarding when these positions are being given to employees without being advertised.
St John will consider the EOI for the 4×4 roster and will provide further updates at upcoming JCCs.
Agenda Items Not Discussed
Vehicle Customisation
Baby Harness and Dual Stretchers
iPads for Casuals
Vehicle Maintenance and Service
ATOs and Priority 3 Jobs
Geographical Cover/Response – Melville and Kelmscott
Established ATOs
Senior ATOs Being Overlooked
Meeting Closed
11:05
Next Meeting
April 2024
Meeting Chaired By
Alan Clyne
Meeting Conducted
09:00-11:05
Committee Attendees
John Thomas, Mike Hardwick, Lee Waller, Jesse George, Jon Noble and Karen Gerristen.
Committee Apologies
No apologies
SJA Attendees
Alan Clyne, Tony Fitzgerald, John Backo, Stephanie Freemantle and Florentina Min.
St John Opening Statement
Call Volume
Workload has gone up 20% since last JCC, and the call volume has increased from 265 cases a day to 325 cases. St John believe this work has always been there and that we are now better placed to do that work. There are more crews (50-55 crews a day) and the turnaround times have improved. This also includes the Medic volume working across an 18-hour daily period. Currently the establishment on most days is at 70.
Workload is heavily dependent on APTC, some days crews are doing certain jobs and the next day they are not. Last Sunday PTS did eight country retrievals, which obviously left the metropolitan area a little vacant. KPI response performance is over the 90% benchmark.
CPAT Vehicles
CPAT specific calls have increased, St John want to get the vehicle out more to handle this specific workload. They want to have the same officers on the vehicle to maintain familiarisation. There will two more CPAT vehicles coming online, one at the end of the year and the second vehicle will come online early next year.
Patient Liaison Officer in Joondalup Health Campus
St John are toying with the idea of placing an officer into this hospital to assist with ramped Ambulance Transport and Medic crews. The AEAWA stated what benefit would this provide when a Hospital Liaison Manager is already placed there to deal with ramped crews?
St John will bring further information back to the table to discuss this proposal further.
Leftover Items from the Previous Agenda
Vehicle Maintenance Requests
This system has been sorted, and information has been provided to all Ambulance Transport Officers and Medics. This item is now listed as “Closed”. However, if further issues occur we will raise this again at a future JCC.
Ready Now Jobs at Hospitals
This item has been closed from the last JCC. St John had advised all officers that if they arrive to pick up the patient and after 15-minutes they are still not ready a call to PTS comms should occur to advise. Depending on workload you will either remain there a little longer until the patient is ready, or the job will need to be rebooked and you will be sent another call.
The AEAWA stated St John need a ‘checklist’ for ready now calls. Someone should be calling and finding out; is the cannula out, is the paperwork done, have all interventions ceased with the patient, before we attend. This will prevent crews hanging around at hospitals. With the current state of the health system, we do enough of this already.
A further discussion occurred around ‘wait and return’ calls. Some officers have been forced to wait excessively long at scenes whilst other calls move more smoothly. As always wait and returns will be arranged on a case-by-case basis. Some scenes it may not be appropriate to leave the patient, whilst other times it will be OK.
It is also dependent on the procedure that patient is going for, as this will determine the time the crew is required to wait. All such calls will be advised by PTS comms.
Forced Overtime
The procedure requested by St John for officers to call PTS comms is clearly becoming an issue for many members. Officers are calling three to four times to advise they can not do overtime are not getting through to anyone on the phone, as those staff are busy and on calls themselves.
The AEAWA advised that this was brought up in the Paramedic JCC and the Association requested an AmbiCad message which pops up and asks on shift crews if they would like a shift extension, crews can simply hit a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ button.
With an excessive number of calls going into our communication centres each day, and employees constantly under the pump, why create a system where extra call volumes come in?
St John seemed happy to review this, and they will provide an answer shortly. It was also advised that with the extra new staff that have hit the road and Transport ‘book off’ rates improving, this may not be such an issue in the future.
New Agenda Items
Vehicle Maintenance Requests
This is now a closed. The Ambulance Transport Officer Newsletter has provided all information on this issue to the workforce. If any issues are still occurring, Ambulance Transport Officers and Medics are advised to contact the AEAWA, and we can relist the problem on the JCC agenda.
Cert III for Non-Emergency Transport
This item has been raised numerous times; St John have tried to get this to work. An expression of interest has now gone out to see who would be interested in this in the newsletter. The aim was to get officers who wish to get the certification to complete the certificate. St Johno were also looking to sort the retrospective requirements for officers interested in the course. This process may take about six months; however, St John would like to get this through.
St John need to investigate officer training to see if the standards will be accepted for officers to gain the certification. This will require external discussions. St John will also require someone who is experienced in clinical education to assist in running the course or with course development. Currently, the plan is to look into a small number of people for the first group, to test the process.
Stryker Rollout
Members would like to know what is happening with the rollout, when can members expect them to be in the vehicles. St John stated the Medics were the primary focus as they were assigned the new vehicles.
There has also been a supply issue, which has delayed this process. Normal fleet replacements are still occurring, and the current Stryker retro fit is doing approximate two vehicles per week. St John also advised that no new vehicles will be fitted with the Ferno, they will all be Stryker fitted vehicles.
It is a long task, but the process should be completed over the next year or two. The CEO is focused on this and wants it completed as soon as possible.
Roster System
Members are a little concerned at the length delays of this upcoming roster system. St John advised that there is now a Team purely focussed on this. St John are still reviewing all the potential systems and data capturing processes and some head way is expected in the next calendar year. St Johns will keep members informed through the AEAWA and the Ambulance Transport Newsletter.
Closed Vans
The question was asked about the data capturing of closed vehicles. The AEAWA would like to see how many shifts/vehicles are closed daily (inclusive of Medic and Transport Officer vehicles). St John did not have that data with them but provided some data from today (13/09/2023). Out of the 37 rostered vehicles today they were 5 down.
There were no specifics of Medic/Transport configurations. St John would be happy to inform the AEAWA on future closures of vehicles.
Transferring Infants/Babies
Discussions occurred around transferring new borns. In some cases, crews are saying its unsafe to have mum on one stretcher and the baby on the other. As they can not see the child and its very hard to assess them properly on route.
The AEAWA intervened and asked the question ‘have the new baby blankets been provided to the Transport fleet yet? St Johns stated ‘No’. This is a simple fix. Again the AEAWA would like to remind all officers YOU SHOULD NOT USE THE BABY BLANKET UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! The manufacturer states it can only be used in ‘EMERGENCY SITUATIONS’. If an issue occurs and you are Transporting a newborn under non-emergency circumstances, any fallout will land WITH THE DRIVER!!! As you have deemed the manufacturers warning to be unimportant and you have chosen to ignore the warning! The risk is yours to take.
The AEAWAs advice is to politely decline the job as it is unsafe, if you feel you are pressured into doing the call contact the AEAWA immediately. A St John lawful directive under workplace law is not lawful if the direction has the potential to cause harm or if the request is illegal. Thankfully you will be covered for both!
Process for Increasing Clinical Scope SOP
As there were no representatives from the Country at today’s meeting, this item will be held over until the next JCC.
Uniform Orders
The AEAWA wanted to inquire what has evolved since the last JCC. At the last JCC St John agreed that the process in ordering uniforms is cumbersome, and that numerous employees are not receiving their full uniform order. Today St John stated the Uniform Committee will be reviewing all items related to the uniform.
There are some uniforms which will be trialed in December. A discussion took place on the quality of the uniform. The AEAWA stated that volunteers from the SES and DEFES have full dress uniforms, and here are St John employees with an embarrassing mismatch of green.
Regarding the number of uniforms full time Ambulance Transport Officers can order, it shouldn’t be too hard to change a 4 to a 5 on the drop-down menu so they have a clean uniform for very shift. Again, this will be reviewed by members on the Uniform Committee.
Crews Working the 12-Hour Roster
St John really dropped the ball with this one. With the introduction of the 12-hour shifts a number of employees were under the impression, and in some cases led to believe that as they have moved from an 8.5-hour day roster to a 12-hour a day roster they would be receiving 3.5-hours of overtime per shift.
THIS IS NOT THE CASE – You will be paid a 12-hour rate for the days you work, not the overtime. Unfortunately, no one is advised of this, and it is not until the employee see’s their first pay that they realise their pay doesn’t add up.
Officers are then contacting St John, who then inform the employee they do not get paid the overtime.
All officers should note that those who work these rosters often receive contracts that state your pay is referenced to Appendix 2 in the Ambulance Transport Officers Certified Agreement (as all Ambulance Transport rates are). Unfortunately, St John never realised that there are NO 12-HOUR SHIFTS IN APPENDIX 2. So, your rate will be calculated differently. Unfortunately, it appears there are various Ambulance Transport Officers working these 12-hour rosters on a multitude of pay rates. St John are in the process of reviewing this.
Medic/LAR Crews
The AEAWA asked about placing these resources in the Southern metropolitan corridor. Some of these crews log on in Belmont and Wangara and are then continually deployed to the Mandurah and Rockingham areas, as there are no resources there.
This leads to extensive shift extensions, as crews are driving 50+ minutes to get back to their starting locations to then knock off. Some officers are driving from their homes in these areas to Wangara to then drive back again.
St Johns appeared receptive on this matter and would like to see more resources placed in this area. Further discussions and information will occur soon on permanent placements of these vehicles.
Ipads for Casuals
Again, this was brought up as casuals do not have iPads to use. Many of the iPads at the depots are not even charged or have not been updated in some time. Often the passwords do not work. St John put in a case to IT for more iPads and the answer came back ‘NO’.
The AEAWA then had an epiphany….. Maybe the managers at the depots…. Wait for it……. Could plug them in, and squeeze in an update every 30 days. St John will review this and get back to us.
Country Transfers
Members approached the AEAWA regarding the allocation of crews to do country transfers. Some officers appear to get 2-3 a week whilst others never get allocated one. Members would like to know what the process is.
The AEAWA suggested an EOI go out to all officers, get a list of those keen to do them, and were possible divide the transfers as best as you can. Its not a hard thing to do. St John appeared to like this idea, and they will return to the table at the next JCC to discuss options.
Currently, these calls are mainly given to Casuals over full time officers, which is strange as casuals cost more.
Extra Discussions
Transfers from Perth to Country Regions
A discussion occurred around the use of the Multi Patient Transport Vehicle. Yesterday three Transport crews brought down three patients from Perth to Albany Hospital. The question was asked why the MPTV wasn’t used. St Johns stated that sometimes its more expensive to run this vehicle over three separate crews.
They realise that three crews are taken out of the metropolitan circulation, however, it is cheaper for the organisation to do this over the deployment of the MPTV.
Van overstocking
St John asked the question ‘has the practice of overstocking the PTVs with equipment still occurring?’. The delegates stated the issue is better, as previously crews were spending 10-15 minutes of the start of the shift removing piles of stock. But since COVID ceased, the practice of over overstocking has greatly reduced. This has also been addressed in the newsletter and crews are asked to speak to the Transport Managers if this continues.
Will We See 224 LAR/Transport Crews?
St John stated perhaps, originally, we were told there is not enough depth in resources to run 224 vehicles, however this has recently changed. Next month there may be the possibility to add further 224 vehicles to support the RFDS crews. Early in the morning and late evening jobs cannot be done currently, as there are now crews to do them, this means the Paramedics crews are assigned.
The AEAWA discussed the current new officers, some have a weekday contract, and some have weekend contracts. Some weekenders are racing through their mentor shifts by doing extra weekdays, whilst other weekenders are told they can not work weekdays as they are on weekend contracts.
Once again, we seem to have hit the old St John bottle neck when only the chosen few get passed. St John will review this and get back to the AEAWA on why this is occurring.
St John to Return to the Next JCC With
Heatmap of the work distribution from the northern corridor to Jurien Bay.
Meeting Closed
11:05
Next Meeting
TBA
Meeting Chaired By
Tont Fitzgerald.
Meeting Conducted
13:30 – 15:30.
Committee Attendees
Lee Waller, Jon Noble and Karen Gerristen.
Committee Apologies
John Thomas and Mike Hardwick
SJA Attendees
Tony Fitzgerald, Stephanie Freemantle and Kate Lawrence.
Previous Agenda Items Not Discussed
New Transport Officers
The assessment centers for 20 full-time and 6 part-time officers is about to commence. St John are hopeful that these new employees will fix many of the gaps and rostering issues that have been occurring.
Vehicle Maintenance Requests
Follow up on Fleet and Radio procedures, and how they process the vehicle issues. Fleet have a detailed system. They review the request and then check what the issue is. Dependent on what it is, a Transport Officer may check or troubleshoot the problem. This is to reduce vehicles being tagged as being ‘off road’.
The AEAWA suggest this needs to be a CEP item, as employees are not trained in some of the items they are signing off. We understand some vehicles are being tagged as un-operational, but how do we know that officers are doing what is required to fix the issue. if they have had no training in fixing the fault. There were reported issues of the internet on the AmbiCad on nights constantly going off. This effects the sign in sheets, drug registers etc. St John will look into this.
Driving Standards
New officers apparently were not taught how to reverse the Transport Vehicles during training. St John stated that all officers attend a two-day training package for driving which incorporates reversing. The guideline does state that reversing requires a ‘spotter’ to minimise accidents and vehicle damage.
The AEAWA stated that two days may not be enough for driver training. Some of our delegates have been told the training is as simple as reverse on one or two occasions, then the next student performs the task. If you have a class of 20 students over a two-day course, there is not much time for truly assessing the ability of an officer. St John stated that any concerns for vehicle safety they would like to know, so they can approach the college to see what they can do with the training package. Feedback from the college is that the training is adequate. After today’s discussion, St John will approach those within the college to provide them with the points discussed and maybe implement those points into future training. Those points were.
– Trainers who are qualified to teach training
– Adequate reversing training
– Increased training times
– Trainers are often new employees
– Better CPAT driver training
Mentoring Feedback
Mentoring and tutoring along with the procedures around them. The AEAWA were successful in increasing the training for the wheelchair vehicle mentoring for 2-days, and tutoring across the fleet has been increased from 10 to a possible 15 shifts. Often students are swapped out from one tutor to another which sometimes has created consistency issues. However, the AEAWA believes you need a good solid week to learn properly and adequately. Often rostering overrides, the learning process, and many students are moved from location to location to simply fill the gaps on the roster.
Many officers have pulled themselves of mentoring, this is an organisational issue in all fields, Communications Officers, Paramedics and Transport Officers are leaving this position due to feeling unsupported in the role. Basically, if you say someone is not up to the mark to do the position, a complaint often follows. As St John have embraced this ‘tit for tat’ mentality, not many officers want to be a tutor.
Many tutors find they are often moved out of their location to another, or a different shift to tutor a student. This has been a major issue in the program, as currently most officers believe
there are more negatives in being a mentor than positives. St John has to fix this.
Ready Now Jobs
If you do arrive and the patient is not ready, what do we do? This was actually discussed in the last JCC and the feedback from St John was to wait 20 minutes and then if the patient is not ready then you call comms and advise the facility that the call will need to be rebooked. Another question was asked, does comms change these booking times? It may be a booking for an 10:00 pick up, but you get given the job at 08:30 as it’s been changed to ‘Ready Now’.
Sometimes the staff on scene were not advised that the patient is going early, so no paper work or discharge forms have been done. St Johns stated it is an online booking process, and it can be difficult to manage such occurrences.
Wait and Return Jobs
Often employees are being advised the patient will be able to return in 15 minutes, 45 minutes later they we are still waiting. Comms get frustrated as we haven’t left the scene as they have jobs outstanding, and we get frustrated. There should be a history of these places that are never ready, it’s difficult if you have a patient to go for a procedure who can not sit. We arrive with the stretcher and we either can’t transfer them to have the procedure done, or we leave with the patient or just wait. When crews do wait, they are then not available for other calls.
Discussions also occurred over Medics not doing wait and returns. St John will review this feedback and will inform the AEAWA of the outcome shortly.
Mixed Scope of Practice
A discussion around the duty of care and officers changing scopes dependent on what role they are currently doing. Issues of officers going from ATO to Medic was extensive. Some officers have reported to St John that upskilling in patient treatments have not been happening because the attendant trained in the extra skills is driving for that shift and not attending.
ATOs Being Lost to Medics and Other Positions
A discussion took place over these individuals leaving the role, but not the organisation. This has been a problem for years, and now St Johns are realising this. More intakes may be necessary to properly service the fleet.
Vehicle Overstocking
A newsletter was sent out by St John highlighting the new vans and how they should be stocked. Many officers are still piling equipment into the new vehicles. As many depots have numerous staff moving through them, many believe that instead of performing a full van check, officers are just placing numerous items into the vehicle. This practice then makes the oncoming crew remove the stock from the vehicle. St John have been made aware of this and are currently reviewing the situation.
Meeting Agenda Items
Certification Non-Emergency Transport
The AEAWA brought up…… again, that at last year’s CEP everyone was advised they were being awarded this certification, however, there is still no answer as to when this will take place. The AEAWA have asked St John for an answer to this; apparently there was a hold up with COVID. St John still haven’t provided an answer in today’s meeting.
The person within St John later reviewing this certification is no longer with the organisation. There is another person in this role, and hopefully this certification process will now get some traction. Current officers who have done the relevant training and courses will automatically be presented with this certificate when it becomes available.
Uniform Orders
The AEAWA advised St John that many members are not happy the current allotted uniform numbers (4 shirts, 4 pants 1 pair of boots per year). Recently these numbers have reduced due to low stock levels. It was stated that Paramedics who work a 4×4 rosters are allotted four uniforms, so why can’t Transport Officers be assigned five?
The response from St John was that this was a reasonable point. Regarding boots St John stated that if your boots are not up to standard an officer can order a new pair. In the past officers have been told to tape up their boots until they can order new ones in their next uniform allocation.
St John was advised of the cumbersome process employees go through to order uniforms. Many employees are getting 50% of their order, and the rest simple do not arrive. The process is extremely slow.
Acknowledged Times on Job Cards
Are these being adjusted by comms? This has been an ongoing problem. Members are saying in many instances the out time is being changed to the 79 time. In metro ambulance the out time is the time of acknowledgment. Proof of this has been sent to St John in an email, with images. There is still no answer that this process is still continuing. If this is the case its falsifying the arrival times to better suite response times. Transport is run on Web CAD so there is less information listed than what is on CAD, however it should still show if these times are being manually overridden. St John will review this and respond back.
Forced Overtime
Members believe as they are struggling to fill shifts, forced overtime and shift extensions are occurring regularly. Examples that when shifts finish between 14:00-18:00 there are little oncoming crews. Those who finish later are now being sent late afternoon calls that will take them way over their shift finish times.
Some crews are doing 45 minutes shift extensions on an almost daily basis. Crews are saying that a job will always be sent in the last hour even though it may take 2-hours to do it. There is often very little consideration to travel times from hospitals etc back to the depot.
iPads for Casuals
The AEAWA raised the issue that many casuals have to use their own phone to authenticate the iPad to use it, the idea was floated that the top 20 casuals (the ones doing regular shifts) should be issued an iPad to use. St John advised the AEAWA that after their discussions, they have acquired some more iPads and they will be provided to many of the casual employees performing the work. This will roll out to those officers shortly.
CPAT Staffing Pilot
St John added an agenda item for staffing the CPAT vehicle. St John are looking at staffing the CPAT permanently. These employees will be working on a shift pattern that will be discussed later. The AEAWA are very supportive of this. St John stated that this would be a day roster….of course they all are. Most likely working 07:00 till 19:00 to capture most of the calls. Further discussions will be had regarding this pilot, and feedback from the AEAWA will be provided to St John shortly.
Meeting Closed
Meeting ended at 13:30.
Next Meeting
TBA
Meeting Chaired By
Alan Clyne
Meeting Conducted
09:30 – 12:30.
Committee Attendees
Lee Waller.
Committee Apologies
John Thomas, Mike Hardwick, Jon Nobel and Karen Geristen.
SJA Attendees
Alan Clyne, Tony Fitzgerald, Kate Lawrence and Stephanie Freemantle.
SJA Introduction
Workload
St John commenced the meeting stating they will have a full team back on the March the 8th regarding the roster and there will also be a significant increase in workload. SJA are currently looking at how much workload is out here and how much of that workload they can get. SJA are currently reviewing crew numbers and have stated there is about 260 jobs a day within the metropolitan suitable for Transport.
Three is a lot of work SJA aren’t getting, and they admit they lost some of that contracted work but are actively trying to get that work back. The difficulty is, is that Transport Crews are helping Ambulance Crews in the metro area and therefore have been quite late to many Transport jobs. This has meant the organisation lost some of the contracts.
On Road Mangers
The on-road management improvement plan is going to the St John Executive, so more Team Leaders on the road will be needed. This plan will see four Managers to visit customers and engage more workload. St Johns are stating they are aiming to improve capacity. Other Hospital Service Providers (HSPs) and RFDS have already been contacted along with many of the frequented Nursing Homes.
Other Transport Services
There are approximately 25-30 extra vehicles on the road (through various other companies). This shows that there is not a lot of capacity to pick up much of the workload. Post 18:00 many of these businesses are not responding. So, there is certainly capacity for Transport Crews to work into the nights.
Reintroduction for Transport into the Country.
St John stated it is financially viable to do a country run (bringing a patient from a country hospital into the metro area) and that every request from the country will be reviewed. This is anticipated to not be on the scale as it was last year, which left numerous metro jobs not being attended to.
Culture Survey
Focus is and always has been the results of the survey. You will see a lot more conversation about culture in the workplace occurring and working groups will be established in moving forward. Staff from all areas of the business will be able to have input on how we as an organisation progress.
Medic/Medic Model
Longer mentoring periods are wanted by St John and there is a current dispute with the AEAWA. This will be discussed at a later stage dependent on the result delivered by the Fair Work Commission.
Replacement Program
Currently there is a 12-month waiting period for wheels chair vehicles. They are currently on order but there is no date of delivery assigned.
Phone Carrying on Shifts
St John wanted to remind all officers that carrying the phones is a must, not only for being contacted, but it is also a safety issue.
Agenda Items
Baby Blanket & Baby Capsule
The new harness is being rolled out and is currently able to be reviewed on Connect. It fits the Ferno stretcher and the Stryker. So far, the tests performed by the Safety Team has been successful and it will be seen in service shortly. Members have stated they are still concerned, as ‘eye balling’ the patient will be extremely difficult as Transport Officers sit behind the patient. Further discussions to ensure this practice is safe for both our members and the patients will require further discussion.
Double Stretcher Transport Vehicles
St John stated they are moving away from the double stretcher model to the single stretcher model and will provide further information in upcoming JCC meetings regarding this change. Dispatch and Clinical Decisions Members of the Wheelchair Vehicles have stated there needs to be further questioning around attending cases that are booked on the on-line system. There are issues as no discussion occurs if the patient can stand or not. Patients are required to assist themselves into the car, and many cannot do this. This requires the single officer to perform multiple manual handling tasks.
St John responded that they would review these calls and DO NOT want officers to injure themselves. If a situation such as this occurs, the officer on scene will be supported for calling for back up to assist. Regarding dispatching to certain calls, many members believe they are almost forced to do so. Some scenes require work that is not in a PTS scope. St John have stated ‘if you believe the job is not suitable with your skill set, you don’t have to do that call’, and that ‘your management team will support this’.
Pre-shift Checks
Many members have stated that on shift commencement they are required to roll out to many calls that are outstanding or need to be on time. This leads to Transport Crews not being able to adequately check their vehicles. St John advised they will not pay overtime to check a vehicle and that if a crew needs extra time to perform a vehicle check they should advice communications. This also will be supported.
Flexibility in Start / Finish Times with Full Time Transport Officers
Members find themselves booking off an entire shift as they may have a specialist appointment booked throughout the day. Members have asked on the infrequent times this occurs, would SJA (if both officers are willing) move the start and finish times of the shift accordingly. St John have said that this will always be dependent on workload, however. If an officer has to attend the appointment, they can call the Transport Management Team and a solution may be found.
‘Ready Now’ Jobs at Hospitals
This has been a long term JCC item, and members have asked this to be dealt with. On arrival to a hospital pick up and the patient is not ready, crews do not want to have an issue with the hospital, and get into a debate with the hospital staff about how long they should stay there. The AEAWA advised back in the day there was an agreement to wait 15-minutes and if the patient was not ready within that time frame a call to comms was required. If there is low workload then the crew may be advised to stay, if not the crew may be asked to leave and do another call. Crews are advised to contact comms post 15-minutes and they will make the decision. St John stated they will put this as an item in the upcoming Transport Newsletter.
Condition of PTV/CPAT Vehicles
The working group have advised of a delay. Currently the process of the stretcher moving in and out of the vehicle has a few issues. When a solution has been found further information will be delivered to the fleet.
Stryker Training
All officers have been Stryker trained as this was covered in the last CEP. Unfortunately many members did the training months previously and may have forgotten some of the key points. The AEAWA have asked if an officer is placed in a Stryker vehicle and find themselves requiring more training this should be facilitated. St John are in agreeance and have stated if an officer finds themselves in this situation a familiarisation with the Stryker can be arranged that shift.
Transport Roles
There has been lots of discussion around the future of Transport. The rumor mill is in full swing and some believe that this area of the organisation doesn’t have much time left. The AEAWA wanted St John to weigh in on this statement. St John believes heavily that there is viability within the role. This is a smart business model and there is no plan to get rid of Transport now or in the future.
Allocated Times for Lunch Break
Members have stated that they often find themselves having a lunch break 2-hours into their shift. The AEAWA asked if this is the case officers should be allowed to have lunch as close to lunch time as possible. Many people do not eat lunch at 9am. St John advised that this is often done to ensure all crews can fit within the window of a lunch break, however they would review this and align the times better if they can. St John also stated that if a crew feels they are constantly having lunch at this time they can call comms and request a later break, dependent on workload this may be able to be facilitated.
Next JCC Meeting
TBA
Meeting Closed
The meeting closed at 12:30
Meeting commenced
13:00-15:30 on August 9th, 2022
Committee Attendee’s
John Thomas, Lee Waller and Jon Nobel
Committee Apologies
Mike Hardwick, Dave Higgins, and Conrad Fairhead.
SJA Attendees
Tony Fitzgerald, Natalie Braxton, Alan Clyne, Simon Hughes, Serena, Ken Tan.
Opening Statement
Returning to Pre COVID-Staffing and Call Levels
SJA informed us that the workload and staffing levels are returning to pre COVID levels, however there is still a need to increase these levels. No information on how many or recruitment plans, and timings were provided.
New Transport Vehicles
There are four new vehicles for officers to work in across the fleet which will reduce the need for Transport crews using Ambulances. However, members have stated that these are currently being used by the Medic crews. These vehicles have also been fitted out with the new Stryker Stretchers and Transport Officers are not given the opportunity to work in them. SJA will review this.
There has been a recognised need to replace some of the older Transport vehicles and currently Fleet are reviewing this too.
Department of Health Transport Contract
There are five listed organisations contained within the contract, those being Medic One, Medical Edge, National Patient Transport, Wilson and SJA. Senior Management have been in contact with these organisations on a regular basis. Their appears to be plenty of movement for contracts.
Recruiting More Staff
There have been some issues with application numbers to increase the Transport ranks. SJA have identified the difficulty in attracting new people to the organisation with other agencies recruiting to fill their contracts. Much interest for hiring Transport Officers is contained on seek.com.
Agenda Items
RASOs Working With Transport Officers
An email from Senior Management was sent to all Transport Officers advising them of RASOs joining the fleet. Many members contacted their Transport Delegates raising their concerns over this new development. The AEAWA find it hard to understand with SJAs opening statement about returning to pre COVID staffing and workloads, now all of a sudden, we are placing RASOs into Transport Vehicles.
Concerns were raised on the level of training these officers would undertake pre turning up for shifts, it was noted many of the EHS RASOs working with Paramedics were not even trained in using the stretchers properly, many of them had not even seen the back of an Ambulance which resulted in numerous lost time working injuries amongst Paramedics. SJA are to review this.
APTC Times and Availability
This has been appreciated by many of our Transport members. The decisions made regarding hospital-to-hospital transfer priorities are now more appropriate, however APTC do not currently work 24/7, and crews have found hospitals are returning to normal practices when APTC staff are not working. SJA have stated there is a strong desire to have this operating 24/7.
The delay has been in recruiting two more Paramedics into APTC, there aren’t enough to take two off the road to fill the positions. When this changes there will be a push to constantly staff this around the clock.
Pre-Shift Checks
There was some initial confusion regarding this point as SJA came back with what needed to be checked before you commence your shift. The AEAWA reiterated that this was about crews not being given adequate time to check their vehicles. In the past it was 20 minutes, but now the workload has increased, they often find themselves being contacted 2 minutes into their shift to get rolling.
The AEAWA suggest (as we did in the Paramedic pre-shift checks) to advise what the organisation wants us to check, then allot a time to those checks, and crews will move once the checks have been completed.
Reasonable Overtime
This was raised as members particularly in the country regions were given jobs (in some cases 7-hour turn arounds) two hours before their shift finished. When officers said no to the unreasonable request, they often felt pushed into doing the call. They advice was to contact PTS communications and advise them that you cannot do these shift extensions, if you have no luck then contact the a Transport Manager.
Members are advised to contact the AEAWA on [email protected] if your request to finish on time is denied. The AEAWA stated that their needs to be a focus to get crews home on time, and low staffing levels is not the fault of the officer. We realise some officers welcome the overtime; however, the organisation needs to understand the work life/family life balance and assist.
Reporting Vehicle Faults and Damage
SJA would like to see more officers filling out crash packs and notifying of any vehicle faults so that these issues can be rectified quickly. SJA stated that this is a NO FAULT process, and that they realise many of the officers completing the forms may not have even been involved in the incident (they may have just found a problem).
Handle of Wheelchair Vehicle Issues
A fault with the grab handle on the wheelchair vehicles have been identified and raised at the previous Transport JCC. SJA noted a supply issue in fixing this problem and when this is sorted the vehicles may be off the road for some time whilst these are being installed. Further updates to come.
Completing an ePCR
Members have noted some frustration over completing a full ePCR with two full sets of vitals when a patient is simply going home, some patients have gotten a Taxi to hospital and are suddenly required to have a range of vitals completed. SJA believe that a Working Group with Clinical Governance should be established to see if this can be changed. The AEAWA are supportive of making these changes and will advise the membership of what the next steps are.
Transport Vehicle Mobile Phones
Many vehicles do not have two mobile phones in use. This is a safety and contactability issue. SJA are in the process of placing more phones into vehicles with only one phone; except for one operator vehicles.
Baby Blankets
There appears to be some back and forth on this issue, on one hand Clinical Governance say that this piece of equipment is safe and approved for use for all Transport Officers, and on the other the company who makes them state it should ONLY BE USED IN EMERGENCIES!
The AEAWA has advised members not to use this piece of equipment in the non-emergency setting until the onus falls on the organisation and not the officer if something goes wrong. Your committee believes that if a vehicle collision occurs and a newborn is placed on a piece of equipment not authorised by the manufacturer for non-emergency use then questions will be asked on why this accident occurred. Our concern is that the officer may be placed in fault.
Next Meeting
TBA
Meeting commenced
10:00-14:00 on May 3rd, 2022
Committee Attendee’s
Lee Waller
Committee Apologies
Jon Noble
SJA Attendees
Natalie Braxton, Alan Cline, Tony Fitzgerald and John Backo
Opening Statement
A request for input across the agenda items was requested, to gauge the on-road feeling of staff. SJA stated some things have been lost during communication. Further JCC’s it’s been requested that each group place on 6-8 agenda items each so that we can move through the items more quickly. Some items have not been resolved and other items have been on hold for a long time. A commitment to establish a priority agenda list was agreed to. However, all items should be reviewed at some stage to allay any concerns across the fleet.
SJA have been successful in all areas of the contracts, however for some they are not the exclusive tenders, as many other parties have been included. Online bookings will predominantly stay. Calls in may be changed if we cannot attend these calls, there may be an opportunity to change the pickup times or decline the call if resources are limited. SDS, Wilsons and NPT are also involved, and they will most likely attend if we don’t.
Competition is now in the marketplace more than ever before. SJA have lost some work in the past 18-months as ambulance are not doing that work due to emergency workload. RFDS work is also being discussed regarding the contract, between SJA, Health and RFDS. No wheelchair transport in the new contract under the Department of Health will occur (approx. 80% of the wheelchair vehicle workload), these patients will be placed in PTV’s. If it’s a hospital pick up or the patient is being transported from hospital to a facility, the new contract will not allow these patients to be transported in the usual SJA wheelchair vehicle.
SJA want to scale up their Transport numbers to fulfil these contracts. A review of casuals (required hours) is being reviewed along with the cycle times, to see how they can improve. Questions such as are we driving too long to scenes, are we being overly ramped, or are there other hospital delays occurring effecting our times will be reviewed. Basically, are these issues related to the hospitals, our dispatching or a mixture of both.
Four new vehicles are close to being made available over the next few weeks. They are an addition to the fleet, not replacements. The current BCP level is being reviewed for Ambulance Transport Officers, SJA have stated that the absentee rate for PTS is a lot lower than expected, hence why the review is to occur.
The Community Transport Officer role has been impacted; a greatly reduced scope of transport is being discussed. Further information will be made available at a later date. However, much of the calls they were doing have been altered.
Country Transport Officers can request roster changes. In the past this been excluded for our country members. SJA have stated they will review these requests when they are made aware. For future JCCs there may be an opportunity for PTS comms to be involved in the meetings. This way a dispatch perspective can paly a part in the discussions.
New Baby Blankets
These will be placed into the new vehicles; they are DHS blankets. When the older ones come in, when the vehicles are being serviced, they will also be replaced. If crews need to request the baby capsule so the patient can be transported safely, rather than using the blanket they should do so.
The AEAWA would like to remind the members that only approved (by the manufacturer) options should be used. The current Baby Blanket can only be used in ‘emergency situations. Crews should arrange a capsule and not feel pressured to transport the patient.
Fatigue Management
RASOs coming in to work at SJA after they have completed their full-time work. Some officers have worked 17 days straight. SJA have stated they should have a 9-hour break before they commence their SJA shift. This is for employee safety.
If any member believes they may be at risk should contact the Transport Team Leader ASAP to discuss, if they are not happy with the answer, they should contact an AEAWA Delegate immediately.
SJA Contacting Casual Officers
SJA have been contacting casuals that have not worked for extensive periods of time to ascertain if they are still happy to work for the organisation. Some officers have left, and others are only working four shifts a year. These officers have been encouraged to work more hours, to stay current in-patient contact. There are too many casuals on the books that have not completed shifts in a significantly long time.
If you are a casual Ambulance Transport Officer and have been contacted regarding your reduced work capacity, please contact the AEAWA ([email protected]) for any required support.
Shift Start Times
Employees are not given appropriate times to check their vehicles. SJA have stated that if you commence your shift at 07:00, that is when you start. A time-in-motion check will be investigated by SJA to see how long a vehicle check should occur (obviously vehicles will be in different states but at least a time frame for specific checks should occur). This is similar to a claim within the Paramedic/Ambulance Officer EBA negotiations.
During a recent discussion with the AEAWA and the Fair Wok Commissioner SJA DO NOT want to pay overtime for crews to attend work early to check their vehicle. This creates issues when you start your shift on time and are requested to roll out at your start time. A study will occur soon to see exactly how long it should take to check your vehicle. This time will be allotted at the commencement of your shift. Further information will be provided.
Section 4 – Not for Resus
St John of God Hospitals will no longer be filling out these forms. So crews will no longer have the form issue within this health setting. This item has now been resolved due to this and has been removed from the list of items. If any further instances arise, the AEAWA will return this topic to the agenda.
Team Leaders at on-road Stations
Management have had a lot more contact with staff on road. The recent Culture Survey (last years) said that management were not on-road, they were not contactable. Team Leaders now have laptops and are working in multiple areas so they can be seen by more employees. Some steps to address the survey responses have occurred and others are under development. These will be communicated at a later date.
Community Transport and Inappropriate Jobs
Grayland’s jobs with escorts and interhospital transfers have occurred and some terminally ill patients have been transported. Formed patients (over the last 3 months) have been tasked with an escort. This is not appropriate, and a review should occur regarding these types of calls.
As the scope has been greatly reduced, this should no longer occur. This item has been removed, again if it arises, please contact the AEAWA for it to be re-added.
PTS Dispatch During Jobs (raised in the previous JCC)
Dispatch often calling whilst they are dealing with patients, some crews cannot answer the call, and officers are being called repeatedly. One case a crew were wearing gowns and could not answer the call and received numerous calls. AEAWA – Crews are not happy as nearly every 20 minutes they are getting a call. There was an acknowledgment that ‘welfare checks’ are required in the community, but many of these calls are occurring whilst crews are in hospitals. It appears there has been a directive to call crews every 20-minutes to see what the holdup is. SJA were going to review.
The AEAWA raised that this is still occurring and provided numerous examples. SJA stated that if crews can not physically answer the phone – don’t answer it. As soon as the crew is able, call comms and let them know and just advise you couldn’t answer at that time.
Ready Now Calls (raised in the previous JCC)
Calls are getting brought forward to ‘ready now’ and the patient is never ready. Sometimes crews are driving 30 minutes to a ready now call only to be told the paperwork isn’t ready. The question was raised who changes the call to ready now? SJA – stated this will be reviewed, specifically how the ready now gets activated and assigned. There was no clear answer on how this occurs, and feedback will be presented around this.
The AEAWA stated this is still happening, many crews are saying the same thing, the job is booked as ready now but when you arrive on the ward the nurse says your early, we are not ready and then the crew must help the nurse pack patients belongings and wait for paperwork. Some cases people have been picked up early but when arrived at the destination, the other end is not ready as they still have a patient waiting to go or a room to be cleaned.
SJA stated to call comms and let them know you have arrived and the patient is not ready, provide an estimated ready time and comms will make the decision if you stay or not. Instruction will be sent out to Transport employees explaining this soon.
Reporting damaged vehicles
Some look appalling, hubcaps missing, dents. Items missing. SJA want staff to report these so the insurance claims can be processed. SJA reiterated today this will not create a discussion point with any officer, this is a safety issue. Anyone can report the damage, the organisation will not assume that the reporting officer caused the damage. Crews reporting these issues early can reduce severe damage occurring to the vehicles or even injury to their colleagues. These issues when left will become worse.
The AEAWA are supportive of reporting damage to vehicles ASAP to increase member safety.
Reasonable Overtime
Our members in the country have stated that on occasions they are ‘coerced’ into doing long shift extensions. An example given was a crew who were knocking off in three-hours when they were given a transfer to Perth, effectively a 7-hour turnaround. Yes, the crew has three hours left to work, but a four-hour shift extension is NOT reasonable. SJA will review these occurrences.
As always if a member finds themselves in this situation, let us know immediately and we can discuss this at a senior Management level to resolve this. Of course, if you are happy to do it…. Enjoy the OT.
Wheelchair Grab Handle
A discussion took place on the grab handle being too low and too far away, if the patient has reduced capacity to hold their weight on the bar or even reach it, it can be extremely difficult for a solo officer to assist the patient in and out of the vehicle. Engineering have reviewed this and there is no other option in replacing the grab handle.
In light of this result the AEAWA would like to remind all our members as always, your safety is our concern. If you need assistance call for a backup. If this request is denied contact the AEAWA directly.
Wheelchair Head Rest
Members have asked if the head rest on the wheelchair has to be used during transport. The response was, it is in the instruction manual to do so, and it is safer for patients. Hence it should be used at all times.
Bariatric Wheelchair
Members are reminded that there is no bariatric wheelchair, crews should call Team Leaders to provide assistance.
People refusing wheelchair shifts
SJA are currently reviewing is this a skill set issue, a training issue or a confidence issue? Further feedback will be provided when available.
Heating in the Transfer Bus
Members have stated it is extremely cold and patients often complain. This was reviewed and the feedback was there is no place to house the heater due to the stretcher configuration and the general design of the vehicle.
Changing Shift Times
If staff want to change times, contact management and they will see if the changes do not impact in a negative way. If not, then the change will be considered. Flexibility in roster times should be able to occur. SJA will review all requests.
Shift Extensions
Notify comms if you cannot do OT at the end of the shift. Instances of crews calling to advise late in the shift can cause issues, If a member provides sufficient notice, the request will have a higher chance of approval.
Any issues with this directive please contact the AEAWA.
Transport Specific Rostering Capability
An employee is now working with rosters that is Transport specific. The role is assisting many of these changes. There has been a downward trend in absenteeism since this has been established. SJA will review if there is a permanent need for this role.
Some concern amongst the membership regarding advertising this role. The AEAWA will inform officers of the outcome.
Contacting Clinical Support Paramedics
Use of CSPs and inconstant information – CSP’s are a larger organisational resource and not necessarily a transport specific role. Take the clinical guidance at a time. Questions were raised that some CSPs don’t really have an understanding of Transport specific issues and their specific CPGs. SJA have stated to always follow the CSP advice. CSPs are shift colour specific and most transport employees work Monday-Friday, so continuity is always going to be difficult to maintain.
Hospitals telling crews what jobs they are doing
A crew attended a hospital for one job and the hospital staff stated no you’re doing this one. SJA have stated crews placed in this situation should call comms and feedback what is occurring on-scene.
The AEAWA agree, it should not be up to the officers to sort this. Management should be contacted, and that Manager should be calling the hospital and making a decision of who is to be transported.
Next meeting
TBA
Meeting for the Transport JCC
10:00 till 12:15:30 on October 4th 2021
Committee Attendee’s
Lee Waller, Dave Higgins, Mike Hardwick and Jon Nobel
Committee Apologies
No AEAWA apologies
JCC Protocol/Welcome and Introduction
Operations Manger, Paul has left the organisation and Team Leader John Backo has been undertaking the position until a new manager is found, interviews have already taken place. SJA would like the new Transport Operations Manager to hold current clinical qualifications.
Vehicle Review
A vehicle review has been undertaken, three new PTS vehicles have come on and another two are in the process to be placed (approx 6 weeks away) and a further two are on order (more likely after to be delivered just after Christmas). SJA state they will further increase the PTS vehicle fleet after further investigation into the fleet.
Rosters
SJA stated it is critical to get the right people into the fulltime and casual transport positions. The Transport Management Team are working with rosters to ensure shifts are being covered. They have stated they have casual employees who do a lot of shifts, but also have casuals that work less frequently. These meetings are occurring every two weeks with the focus on shift coverage and calling in casuals that have not worked on the road for extensive periods.
SJA also stated that for staff who would like to discuss rostering or changes to shifts should discuss those issues with the Transport Team Leaders or with Alan himself. This is due to rosters WILL NOT facilitate the requests and are required to discuss those with the Transport Management Team. In essence you are more likely to get an answer faster by going through your managers for requests.
Clinical Governance
The same fortnightly meetings occur with clinical governance. They discuss SOPs and clinical matters that have been raised by employees.
The College
Meetings also occur every two weeks with the college which are designed for planning and implementation processes. In other words if a Transport Officer school is required ASAP, there is an avenue to do this.
Establishment
The next increase in transport establishment is February next year, after these rosters meetings it was discovered that numbers are diminishing in transport. This is to see if schools can be brought forward. Over the last three months work has taken place on establishment due to SJA struggling to cover shifts. New people are needed in the system. Casuals have been spoken to regarding support and shift availability to see if they can do extra shifts. SJA are not happy with the fulltime to casual ratio, hence why they want to employee more staff especially full timers.
JCC Minutes
Minutes will be published on connect for employees to see.
Mentoring
At a previous JCC meeting it was mentioned why mentoring only occurs on day shifts, they never seem to happen during afternoon or night shifts. SJA came back stating it just happened where rostering was sorted for mentors on days only. However, they do see the need for it to occur across all shifts. The D/A/N configuration for mentoring is currently being discussed with rosters. AEAWA – sometimes staff are not aware that they have a student for that shift. Some notice would be nice so that mentors can be prepared for students. SJA – they will always try to make mentors aware, but they can’t always get to each individual to provide that notice.
Communicating SOPs to Employees
Will be done each week for work related discussions; The new Operations Manager will take this over once the person has been selected.
Observing Shifts
In order to create a more ‘team’ orientated environment it was decided that managers and PTS comms staff would do observing shifts. There are some employees that have not seen the transport on-road component before. Even on-road staff to observe what happens in the communications room. There are many facets of the various roles that could be better understood with these observing shifts.
Baby Capsules
Some Transport members are not happy with the current Baby Harness. SJA had been contacted to review the design. During this meeting Clinical Governance feedback was the current harness is a clinically approved piece of equipment and that there should be no issues using it. The response from Clinical Governance has been requested in writing to both employee groups. The DHS Ped Rest is the item that will replace the current harness and will be a long term roll out at the moment they are only scheduled for the new Stryker vehicles, but later all vehicles this will be fitted in.
AEAWA – Transport Officers SHOULD NEVER place a child in these devices as the designer’s stipulation is they are only to be used under emergency situations.
Updating Connect
A recent update has occurred, members have been struggling to find certain information. There needs to be better connection between management and staff for information dispersal, and many Transport members are stating they are finding information months after it has been released. SJA – the newly appointed Operations Manager will focus on this in detail.
The Radio System
Updated communications regarding radio etiquette, i.e. keeping it short and sweet on the radio than talking too much and taking up the radio channel.
Report Raised
A report on casuals attending shifts after working another job was raised, This had led to officers feeling ‘unsafe’ as the officer had come from a night shift (in another workplace) straight to a day shift with SJA. SJA – stated that this was unsafe and that any officer who feels like their partner is too fatigued to work should raise this. AEAWA – There are volunteers who do that across the state, SJA can not have it both ways. Some volunteers work a full day at their paid employment and then come to volunteer a night shift for SJA.
Wheelchair Kg Limit and SOP
It is updated and on connect and it is 170kg for the limit of the standard SJA wheelchair. A bit more work and investigation around the weight limits will occur. Some officers are not aware of the weight limits which can lead to injuries to both the officers and the patient. SJA – If you believe a patient is too large to move then a call to PTS comms should occur to organise a back up to perform the movement safely.
Community Transport and Inappropriate Jobs
Grayland’s jobs with escorts and interhospital transfers have occurred and some terminally ill patients have been transported. Formed patients (over the last 3 months) have been tasked to with an escort. This is not appropriate, and a review will occur regarding these types of calls. AEAWA – In the interim, if an officer feels the job they have been assigned is not suitable for transport they should discuss this immediately. If they deem that answer to be inappropriate they should contact an AEAWA delegate for further clarification.
Transport Roster Under Metro Guidelines
A brief conversation between a manager and a CATO occurred and the manager stated “no changes can be made to our transport depot in particular (roster changes) because we operate under Metro Guidelines”. This is not the case and SJA will look at any proposed roster changes and assess its suitability against operational guidelines.
Driver Fatigue with Country Kilometers Travelled
Some officers (particularly in the country) are driving hundreds of kilometers a day, some calls seeing crews doing 8-hour turn arounds. SJA are going to review this and are hoping that once more employees are hired, this will reduce these.
Vehicle Specific Checklists
There is only one specific vehicle check list, this is used for all vehicles. SJA need to have checklists for all types of vehicles. It could be easily done for the checklist to be placed on the epcr to determine what list you need to fill out. Ie if you’re logged on as a wheelchair officer then that specific vehicle item checklist can be come up when you log in. SJA will look at this and see if it can be done.
Section4 of the CPR Form
The form is non-valid as it is only for the admission of the patient to the facility and not for the transfer to the facility. The Section 4 needs to be signed so that the NFR can be valid Hospitals need to be aware that Section 4 needs to incorporate the transfer to the facility. SJA – will discuss this with Health and provide feedback to staff.
PTS Management
This is not a new issue and has been brought up multiple times over the past few months. Transport Team Leaders are out and about. Many members state that their roster does not facilitate an ideal time to see the managers. Some managers have been tied in with other roles (covid etc.) which means only one manager is available for the fleet. SJA – this is obviously a budgeting situation, but we do understand its getting busy and we are expanding and we have more accountability placed upon us. Another team Leader is being reviewed, but this will wait until the new Operations Manager is employed. SJA do fill out a Manager Report to show who they have been in contact with. In most cases they see approx. 50% of the fleet.
PTS Dispatch During Jobs
Dispatch often calling whilst they are dealing with patients, some crews can not answer the call, and comms still repeatedly ring. One case a crew were wearing gowns and could not answer the call and received numerous calls. AEAWA – Crews are not happy as nearly every 20 minutes they are getting a call. There was an acknowledgment that ‘welfare checks’ are required in the community, but many of these calls are occurring whilst crews are in hospitals. It appears there has been a directive to call crews every 20-minutes to see what the holdup is. SJA will review.
Ready Now Calls
Calls are getting brought forward to ‘ready now’ and the patient is never ready. Sometimes crews are driving 30 minutes to a ready now call only to be told the paperwork isn’t ready. The question was raised who changes the call to ready now? SJA – this will be reviewed, specifically how the ready now gets activated and assigned. There was no clear answer on how this occurs, and feedback will be presented around this.
Wheelchair Vehicle Dispatching
Being dispatched into forced overtime. There are not enough vehicles, and many days crews feel forced into OT. Calls are being allocated to crews knowingly that a significant shift extension will occur. AEAWA – this can change dependent on the dispatcher, and the question was raised what is the organisations stance on ‘reasonable OT’? is it ½ an hour, an hour?
Modified 79 Times
Jobs are being modified constantly; acknowledgment times are being adjusted to the 79 time. Crews are being shown as ‘79’ whilst traveling to the call. Who is changing this?SJA – stated they do not believe this is being done intentionally but will review this process and provide feedback.
Lack of Transport Vehicles and Use of Ambulances
Some Transport crews are being assigned ambulances to work out of, meaning there is a lack of vehicles for paramedics to commence their shift. Some members have stated they feel pressured to get the vehicle back on time, and in some cases feel pressured to take another call, knowing that the vehicle will return back to the depot late for the oncoming crew. SJA – This will eventually be resolved with the new vehicles being placed into the system, but they are limited to space as many vehicles can not be placed in current depots as they are full. The vehicles have a 6-year life span and there is issues with time and turn arounds in getting vehicles, the time between ordering to receiving the vehicle can be quite extensive.
Meeting Concluded
The meeting concluded with the next JJC date assigned to January 2022.
The AEAWA believed that this was too long away, and many of the agenda items were not even discussed due to time. The meetings need to be aligned to the same 2-hour time slot more frequently or a ½ day meeting should occur every 3-months so that more items can be discussed. The AEAWA will write to SJA to air this grievance. SJA stated they will implement the next JCC for December 2021 but still want the same 2-hour time slot.
Survey Status – Closed
Data Collected – 11/11/2021 – 29/11/2021
Number of Participants – 486
Survey Results – Click here.
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