10 extra ambulance officers for Far Northern region

An additional 10 ambulance officers will be recruited for Queensland Ambulance Service’s South Eastern region as part of 250-staff boost this financial year (2007-08), Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said.

Mr Roberts said the QAS was budgeted to recruit an extra 250 ambulance officers and buy 140 new ambulance vehicles in 2007-08, in response to the growing demand for ambulance services across the State.

Mr Roberts said the commitment of 10 extra ambulance officers for the Far Northern region, which includes stations in the Cairns, Tablelands and Cape York areas, was in additional to the commitment of nine new ambulance vehicles for the region.

“I am pleased that 120 additional officers – almost half of our target – have been recruited and interviews with more than 100 qualified ambulance officers in the United Kingdom are concluding this week,” Mr Roberts said.

Mr Roberts said the appointment of additional ambulance officers was in response to the growing demand for ambulance services.

“Last financial year (2006-07), Queensland ambulance officers responded to more than 815,000 total calls for assistance. This was 70,000 more calls than was responded to in 2005-06 and almost double the number of calls a decade ago,” Mr Roberts said.

Mr Roberts said he commended QAS staff in the region for their hard-work and dedication.

“Patient satisfaction with QAS response services was 97% last financial year. That is a tribute to the staff of the QAS. A decade ago that satisfaction rate was 94%,” he said.

“The Queensland Government is committed to support ambulance services across the State. For 2007-08, the QAS has a record budget of $404.4 million. It will employ an extra 250 ambulance officers and buy 140 new ambulance vehicles.”

Mr Roberts said in the Far Northern region, there were 12,052 Code 1 urgent incidents in 2006-07 and 5684 so far this financial year (2007-08).

Mr Roberts said in 1997-98, the Queensland Ambulance Service responded to 8738 Code 1 incidents in the Far Northern region.

“The QAS aims to attend to Code 1 incidents in less than 10 minutes. Last financial year in the Far Northern region, 8784 Code 1 incidents were attended to in less than 10 minutes compared to 5673 incidents in 1997-98,” Mr Roberts said.

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