NSW:Ambo officers threaten weekend boycott of sporting events

AAP General News (Australia)
08-05-2004
NSW:Ambo officers threaten weekend boycott of sporting events

By Miranda Korzy

SYDNEY, Aug 5 AAP - The NSW government should immediately invoke an emergency plan
to increase ambulance officer numbers to avert industrial action this weekend, their union
said.

Ambulance officers have threatened to boycott sporting events - including the gruelling
City to Surf run on Sunday - in protest at staff shortages.

Health Services Union (HSU) NSW general secretary Michael Williamson said union and
ambulance officers were meeting this afternoon to try to move towards a plan for additional
staff.

Ambulance delegates would then vote on the plan at a union meeting at 3pm tomorrow.

However, Mr Williamson called on the state government to immediately increase funds
to provide more ambulance crews to confront the crisis.

Ambulance officers are angry that they are taking patients to hospitals and finding
they can not get a bed for them.

"They hold them there on trolleys," he said.

"We need to get more crews back on the roads because while they're in the corridor,
they're not back on the road."

Mr Williamson said NSW Health Minister Morris Iemma should seriously consider invoking
a disaster plan bringing more ambulance crews back on the road.

The ambulance officers would discuss industrial action at the union meeting tomorrow
if a plan for more staff failed to come out of today's meeting.

"Clearly they're going to be fairly agitated if we haven't got a clear direction," he said.

That action could include boycotting major sporting events like the City to Surf.

However, it would not affect calls for ambulances from homes, he said.

Meanwhile, the NSW opposition has called for an inquiry into the the death of an elderly
woman at Sutherland Hospital in Sydney's south on Tuesday.

Despite ambulance officers urging priority treatment for the woman, she was kept waiting
for 40 minutes until her condition suddenly worsened and she was admitted, dying some
hours later.

"It's the death of that poor woman that brought this to a head," Mr Williamson said.

However, the crisis had been developing over the past six weeks, he said.

NSW Premier Bob Carr urged ambulance staff not to withdraw their presence from weekend
sporting events.

"There's no need for a boycott," Mr Carr said.

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KEYWORD: AMBOS

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