Dear members,
Recently you would have received an email from Emma Newman with some information which, as we have outlined before, we remain in dispute.
1) Despite SJA’s continued assertions, AHPRA mentoring requirements are NOT equivalent to the formal SJA ‘mentoring’ role, which is actually known under the Certified Agreement as ‘On Road Tutor’, and attracts an allowance. It is therefore a specific role within our EBA and despite attempts to rebrand it as ‘mentoring’, it remains a separate, distinct role, which we believe is different to the mentoring provisions under AHPRA.
The AEAWA strongly believe that forcing officers to ‘mentor’ new students is not the correct approach and could be detrimental to both mentor and the mentee. Student ambulance officers deserve to start their career with a willing work partner. It is therefore our position that St John need to recognise, support and reward ‘On Road Tutors’ to attract enough participants to the scheme, and this forms the basis of one of our EBA claims.
If you are not part of the SJA ‘mentor programme’ (and you do not wish to be), the AEAWA suggest that if rostered with a student against your wishes, you inform your AM that you are not an On Road Tutor and will therefore not complete any of the mentoring paperwork, now will you be claiming the mentoring allowance of $18.07 per shift. You will have our support in this. Please copy us in to the emails.
2) The second issue is that we do not support our members being required to eat in ambulances. This is a practice that St John are happy to encourage because it results in a faster ‘turnaround time’ than officers seeking out a hygienic place to eat. St John also fail to see the irony in recommending in that we eat in ambulances in one paragraph, followed immediately by a CPD opportunity covering ‘Infection Prevention and Control Post Pandemic’.
3) Discussion if ambulance fees. Our senior management state that discussion of bills/fees is a ‘no-no’ and ‘we do not comment on the bill or fee for service’.
As a number of our members have highlighted, AHPRA consent requirements state just the opposite.
The AHPRA Code of Conduct states:
Fees and financial consent:
a) Patients or clients should be made aware of all the fees and charges involved in a course of treatment, preferably before the health service is provided.
b) Discussion about fees should be in a manner appropriate to the professional relationship and should include discussion about the cost of all required services and general agreement about the level of treatment to be provided.
As registered healthcare professionals the AEAWA advise that officers should maintain compliance with National law where possible. If you are requested to provide information about fees and charges and you enter into that discussion it is essential you give the correct information, so we recommend you read the links below.
https://stjohnwa.com.au/
https://stjohnwa.com.au/
Kind regards
AEAWA Team