You lot just don't learn. Anyone who is still complaining about the issues in the old thread could be regarded as a bit slow on the uptake. Think about why it was closed. For Petes sake just think.
If my memory serves me correctly someone else set up another forum to discuss ambulance politics and advertised it here but the mods removed the link. Why not take that discussion there?
If a service lasts as long as ALAS they must be doing something right. If you have issues with a service take it up with their management or the regulatory body. If you have no luck take it to a member of parliament. Whining on a forum achieves nothing.
Now lets just get on with it.
Ambulance services other than St John
Moderator: Infernal
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outbackpara
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:42 pm
I think that says it all. If you feel that something is not right report it to the relevant bodies. Back home we have similar problems and "cat fighting" (as i call it) between various NHS trusts and various private ambulance companies. But in my area it came to a head where WE made a complaint about the lack of qauls for one particular company. To our amazement they provided the body with all the relevant quals/permits/insurance etc. I must admit i feel quite ashamed about the way i acted and it all stemed from annoyed ex staff basicly whinging, and we all got sucked in. Honestly if you have something to say, say it to the relevant body and let them sort it out. I believe some people dont like the management but they should leave the staff out who just want to do their job. Just my 2 cents from my own personal experience.
FYI Never seem them heard them worked for them but i have seen the pics on here.
Guys i have just come back from an international contract in Myanmar, could anyone recommend any good mining companies? I was working on construction sites but i would like something more secure cheers.
FYI Never seem them heard them worked for them but i have seen the pics on here.
Guys i have just come back from an international contract in Myanmar, could anyone recommend any good mining companies? I was working on construction sites but i would like something more secure cheers.
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Markmywords
You cant lodge a complaint when there is no one to lodge an offical complaint to.
Not that it matters anyway
There is no ambulance act nor regulations in W.A the only time you may see some enforcement would be back to the "drug scheldule" problem and then that would be done by the W.A Health Department.
Not that it matters anyway
There is no ambulance act nor regulations in W.A the only time you may see some enforcement would be back to the "drug scheldule" problem and then that would be done by the W.A Health Department.
MMW - have you tried to resolve the issues with the management?
The Office of Health Review takes official complaints about ambulance services.
There are probably others if you did some more research.
The Office of Health Review takes official complaints about ambulance services.
There are probably others if you did some more research.
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Markmywords
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Markmywords
They dont investigate complaints over 12 months which is a shame and you need to give them a whole lot off other information, which is not possible to get.
Alot off the problems go back years n years anyways.
But everythings been taken onboard so will make some calls to find out about the chinese whispers once n for all.
Alot off the problems go back years n years anyways.
But everythings been taken onboard so will make some calls to find out about the chinese whispers once n for all.
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outbackpara
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:42 pm
Maybe an association should be established and then clients know that that particular service meets the established requirements?
In the UK we have the british ambulance association http://www.baa999.co.uk/
I know that an association is voluntary but if clients made it a pre req then they would have to conform.
In the UK we have the british ambulance association http://www.baa999.co.uk/
I know that an association is voluntary but if clients made it a pre req then they would have to conform.
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Markmywords
ALAS
I have being reading these various threads in relation to ALAS and their clinical operations and services they provide.
After visiting their website, assuming all information is correct and genuine, they 'appear' to be rather well qualified, although some of their terminology is loosely applied and used.
On the ambulance service page they state they are equipped with, and I quote:
- Zoll Defibrillator monitor
I assume this is the 12 lead ecg they make reference to elsewhere.
Or is this just an AED? Anyone can operate and AED, even a kid.
- Pulse Oximetry
Nothing overly exciting about an SPO2
- Trauma Equipment
Most likely cervical collars, trauma dressings, methoxyflourane, GTN, Salbutomol, Glutose etc etc.
- Oxygen therapy
Just an )2 bottle with a reg and some masks, 8LPM thanks!
- IV therapy
IV adrenalin + a few other things, can't see any non-recognised ambulance service being allowed to administer anything to heavy-duty, would be very surpised if they had the capacity to administer morphine and the likes.
- Intubation equipment
Now if this is so, they obvioulsy have some clue as to what their doing, RSI isn't for the untrained.
- Spinal management equipment
As said before, cervical collars, spinal board - Standard stuff.
- and much, much more
Junk like e-flares, PPE and so on.
So they are relatively well equipped. Definately not a paramedic ambulance equipment wise from this list, but still enough to cope with most cases they would come up against.
There wording is a little obscure though, where it says "Critical Care Paramedics" does the word 'Critical Care' sound better? Really what they are is Paramedics with ALS qualification. They actually make reference to this and call them this down below. The difference between the Ambulance Officers appears to be more administerial then anything, and for the life of me I cannot understand why there are so many classifications here. You are either one or your not, or your a trainee. If you look at the differentation between them all, lets exlude trainees, but 1, 2 and 3 - The main differences is spinal management, iv administration. Really all ambulance officers SHOULD know spinal management techniques, regardless its one of the most important things to have in place before moving a patient that has suspected neck/spinal injury.
I was considering contacting them in regards to employment. All this rabble in the various threads doesn't phase me, from what I can see a lot of it is politically motivated and an outoging bitch-fight between SJA and ALAS.
Having said that, I have not personally seen these guys in action, nor have I seen their vehicles and/or equipment, if their website is anything to go y they appear to have all the right bits and pieces.
Would be interested in hearing genuine, non-political comments in respect to their service, equipment and clinical operations.
And one last thing, I am a bit perplexed as how they attend MVA's and the likes on a Code 1. How are they able to have lights/sirens if they are not a recognised emergency service provider (as mentioned in one post)? And how do they actually get these jobs when 000 is the national emergency number, I would suspect any jobs going via 000 would go straight to SJA's comms centre(s).
Cheers;
Stew
After visiting their website, assuming all information is correct and genuine, they 'appear' to be rather well qualified, although some of their terminology is loosely applied and used.
On the ambulance service page they state they are equipped with, and I quote:
- Zoll Defibrillator monitor
I assume this is the 12 lead ecg they make reference to elsewhere.
Or is this just an AED? Anyone can operate and AED, even a kid.
- Pulse Oximetry
Nothing overly exciting about an SPO2
- Trauma Equipment
Most likely cervical collars, trauma dressings, methoxyflourane, GTN, Salbutomol, Glutose etc etc.
- Oxygen therapy
Just an )2 bottle with a reg and some masks, 8LPM thanks!
- IV therapy
IV adrenalin + a few other things, can't see any non-recognised ambulance service being allowed to administer anything to heavy-duty, would be very surpised if they had the capacity to administer morphine and the likes.
- Intubation equipment
Now if this is so, they obvioulsy have some clue as to what their doing, RSI isn't for the untrained.
- Spinal management equipment
As said before, cervical collars, spinal board - Standard stuff.
- and much, much more
Junk like e-flares, PPE and so on.
So they are relatively well equipped. Definately not a paramedic ambulance equipment wise from this list, but still enough to cope with most cases they would come up against.
There wording is a little obscure though, where it says "Critical Care Paramedics" does the word 'Critical Care' sound better? Really what they are is Paramedics with ALS qualification. They actually make reference to this and call them this down below. The difference between the Ambulance Officers appears to be more administerial then anything, and for the life of me I cannot understand why there are so many classifications here. You are either one or your not, or your a trainee. If you look at the differentation between them all, lets exlude trainees, but 1, 2 and 3 - The main differences is spinal management, iv administration. Really all ambulance officers SHOULD know spinal management techniques, regardless its one of the most important things to have in place before moving a patient that has suspected neck/spinal injury.
I was considering contacting them in regards to employment. All this rabble in the various threads doesn't phase me, from what I can see a lot of it is politically motivated and an outoging bitch-fight between SJA and ALAS.
Having said that, I have not personally seen these guys in action, nor have I seen their vehicles and/or equipment, if their website is anything to go y they appear to have all the right bits and pieces.
Would be interested in hearing genuine, non-political comments in respect to their service, equipment and clinical operations.
And one last thing, I am a bit perplexed as how they attend MVA's and the likes on a Code 1. How are they able to have lights/sirens if they are not a recognised emergency service provider (as mentioned in one post)? And how do they actually get these jobs when 000 is the national emergency number, I would suspect any jobs going via 000 would go straight to SJA's comms centre(s).
Cheers;
Stew
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Markmywords
Stew just wanna say welcome to warsug !!!!
W.A is very different to Vic if your looking at the way ambulance services operate. Unlike vic where you have contractors who do the non emergency (netcom work) in metro n some country areas. SJA are the only offical provider off emergency and non emergency transports BUT as we dont have an ambulance act in W.A as such its a free for all (there are providers who do first aid work etc etc and so on) so you can say no rules or no regs unless you slip up and chances are high you will get away with it because no one reports anything.
ALAS have there own emergency number and as long as they have the approval from department planning & infastructure for each vehicle to be classed as an ambulance then yes can do lights n sirens signal 1, code 1, priority 1 to the calls.
The two mercs alas have are both ex vic metro which they brought from a caryard (butchered and stripped) so they had them refitted with what you see today. The VW's were built along time ago and pretty much seen there day i dont know who built them but i believe it was not by an ambulance motor builder so probarly never was inspected and engineered passed.
They do get work and im lead to believe that its a currently "unstable" enviroment with things going on (not that i can mention on here because off legal technicalities but its all listed on another website which was update last night)
There are 2 new companies opening there doors this year doing non emergency transfers and event services there is a market in w.a BUT because off the non tendering process it is hard to get your foot in the door.
Politics aside it is a tit for tat situation we have in w.a, the works there just no one can access it favourable unless you pull strings and pay people off, patient care is suppose to be paramount but people would rather make cash neglect training and equipment and run vehicles into the ground and then others covering up the mess thats been made. Its been an ongoing problem going back years.
W.A is very different to Vic if your looking at the way ambulance services operate. Unlike vic where you have contractors who do the non emergency (netcom work) in metro n some country areas. SJA are the only offical provider off emergency and non emergency transports BUT as we dont have an ambulance act in W.A as such its a free for all (there are providers who do first aid work etc etc and so on) so you can say no rules or no regs unless you slip up and chances are high you will get away with it because no one reports anything.
ALAS have there own emergency number and as long as they have the approval from department planning & infastructure for each vehicle to be classed as an ambulance then yes can do lights n sirens signal 1, code 1, priority 1 to the calls.
The two mercs alas have are both ex vic metro which they brought from a caryard (butchered and stripped) so they had them refitted with what you see today. The VW's were built along time ago and pretty much seen there day i dont know who built them but i believe it was not by an ambulance motor builder so probarly never was inspected and engineered passed.
They do get work and im lead to believe that its a currently "unstable" enviroment with things going on (not that i can mention on here because off legal technicalities but its all listed on another website which was update last night)
There are 2 new companies opening there doors this year doing non emergency transfers and event services there is a market in w.a BUT because off the non tendering process it is hard to get your foot in the door.
Politics aside it is a tit for tat situation we have in w.a, the works there just no one can access it favourable unless you pull strings and pay people off, patient care is suppose to be paramount but people would rather make cash neglect training and equipment and run vehicles into the ground and then others covering up the mess thats been made. Its been an ongoing problem going back years.
Thanks on the welcome note.Markmywords wrote:Stew just wanna say welcome to warsug !!!!
W.A is very different to Vic if your looking at the way ambulance services operate. Unlike vic where you have contractors who do the non emergency (netcom work) in metro n some country areas.
I work with RAV so I am familiar with their operations, and thats how I couldn't quite grip the emergency lights/sirens bit. Interesting how your legisation in regards to ambulance transport is. And your right over here we have the NEPT providers (Non-emergency patient transport) who do the mundane hospital transfers, nursing home transfers for non-emergency patients - That would be a pretty boring existence I would think, not sure if I could cope with doing such a boring job. Interestingly, MAS contract out some NEPT work, although I am not aware of RAV doing same, I think in the country areas here the NEPT work is dished out through the respective hospitals and/or DHS.
I would be interested in working for them if certain conditions were favourable, such a high enough work load - as I am sure in a post before I seen they pay-per-job, and of course decently maintained vehicles and medical equipment would be another one. Its bad enough to drive a junkheap, but to transport a patient in one would be an embarrassment to say the least.
I did read in another post, not sure by who or where it was (on this board), it indicated that Vic were getting rid of all volunteer branches, or something to that effect, can't recall the exact words, thats not entirely correct, as there are no volunteer branches in Victoria.
What we have here are:
- Permanent branches, staffed by Paramedics.
(Some branches are supported by ACO's as well).
- ACO branches, staffed by Ambulance Community Officers.
- CERT teams, staffed by volunteer CERT officers.
There is talk of making some CERT teams permanent branch supported by ACO's where the workload to beyond the capacity of a CERT team. Or alternatively make the CERT team an ACO branch, its a numbers game basically. I believe the requisite here for a new permanent branch to be setup is a minimum of 5 paramedic officers. So obviously they are not going to setup a permanent branch unless there is a significant workload.
ACO's are paid per-job, with mimimum of 2 hours pay, regardless of whether they do the job or not, meaning if they get 2 minutes down the road and are cancelled they still get their 2 hours pay.
The CERT program here was designed to provide first-response advanced life-support first-aid in remote areas. Basically if a town is 20 minutes or more away from the nearest permanent branch (not ACO), and there is enough community support then there is the chance of a CERT team being setup there. Having said that, there are some CERT teams here who are privately funded, either by the local community or business.
There is a move by paramedics not to have ACO's, and their stance on this is, they would rather have additional paramedics then an ACO, as a paramedic is more highly trained, and can provide better patient care. Its pretty hard to argue with that point to. Although in some areas ACO supported brances work well from what I know.
Cheers;
Stew
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Markmywords
I have no idea, Alexandra is a fair haul from me, I am in Grampians region (WR). I am not even sure who's banner they fall under, MAS or RAV. Its kind of interesting how they have setup there own ambulance service, yet work in conjunction with Ambulance Victoria. Although I don't think it would be possible to setup such an independent (for want of a better word) service in this day and age.Markmywords wrote:Stew: Just curious if alexandra are still running themselves (acos) or do they have paramedics on station as well now ?
We use to run into them a fair bit at box hill hospital.
I forgot to mention in the last post, if you want to have a look at the CERT website its at www.cert.org.au - I administrate it.
Cheers;
Stew
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outbackpara
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:42 pm
Not to poke this thread with a hot stick but i have run into a member from ALAS when i was spectating at wanneroo raceway. Being the sticky beak i am i had a chat to one of the paramedics. He was ex SA or ex MAS para (sorry bad memory from tooo many beeeeerrs haha) and he told me they are a registered emergency ambulance service with the health dept and all their protocols are approved by them and apparently carry morphine under protocol. I had a peak at a merc and a vw, i liked the merc set up quite user friendly but the vw is more suited to PTV work. You wouldnt want to handle a code or a multi system trauma in the back i tell you (Not so squishy haha). Their was good equipment zoll monitors and all the various stuff. They basicly had every thing i would expect of an ambulance. He also said their medical director was very hands on and involved withing the company.
You can see why Paramedics are pushing for more paramedics rather than ACOS. You can see the cost saving for towns with little or no work load and having a full paramedic crew on standby. But it is a good idea having ACOS and CERTs it allows the community to help themselves and encourages community spirit.
I was quite shocked to be honest when i came to W.A. and i found out there are little or no Paramedics outside of the Perth metro area. Even unpaid staff within the perth area. Im not pissing on volunteers where would we all be without volunteers. But i would have thought there would have been a more even spread so to speak of volunteers and paramedics in the rural areas (i.e. 1xpara crewed with a volunteer). I can now understand why so many people die on country roads after major trauma. Also the lack of trauma surgery is a killer also, thank god for the rescue chopper now thats a life saver.
You can see why Paramedics are pushing for more paramedics rather than ACOS. You can see the cost saving for towns with little or no work load and having a full paramedic crew on standby. But it is a good idea having ACOS and CERTs it allows the community to help themselves and encourages community spirit.
I was quite shocked to be honest when i came to W.A. and i found out there are little or no Paramedics outside of the Perth metro area. Even unpaid staff within the perth area. Im not pissing on volunteers where would we all be without volunteers. But i would have thought there would have been a more even spread so to speak of volunteers and paramedics in the rural areas (i.e. 1xpara crewed with a volunteer). I can now understand why so many people die on country roads after major trauma. Also the lack of trauma surgery is a killer also, thank god for the rescue chopper now thats a life saver.