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Speaker 1: There's a new Liberal leader in town after David Spears

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Speaker 1: walked away from the job. Well he's important period at

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Speaker 1: the moment. Anyway, vincentanas here and this is what he

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Speaker 1: had to say in relation to the Ambulance Union yesterday.

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Speaker 2: I want to reach out to the Ambulance Union because

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Speaker 2: we know, by their own admission, we've seen that we

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Speaker 2: have a labor party here in South Australia that is

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Speaker 2: letting paramedics down, that is letting the health sector down.

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Speaker 2: So I'm putting the olive branch out right now to

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Speaker 2: the Ambulance Union to sit down and have a chat

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Speaker 2: and make sure that we can do everything possible to

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Speaker 2: work together to help fix that ramping crisis, but also

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Speaker 2: hold the government to account. This isn't about This problem

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Speaker 2: is bigger than each and every one of us. This

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Speaker 2: is about the lives that are being lost to ramping,

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Speaker 2: some of them in my own electurer and that is

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Speaker 2: an absolute disgrace, and every other electorate. We know that

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Speaker 2: this is an issue that is not being addressed by

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Speaker 2: labor parties. That's the first bit of correspondence that I'm

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Speaker 2: going to issue an olive branch to the Ambulance Union

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Speaker 2: to heal the If you like the wounds of the past,

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Speaker 2: let's get on with it, let's work together and let's

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Speaker 2: do everything we can to help that crisis.

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Speaker 1: Leah Watkins is the head of the Ambulance Employees Association

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Speaker 1: the AMBO union. Leah, good morning, good morning.

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Speaker 3: Are you going all right?

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Speaker 1: Thank you? And Olive Branch. You refuse to meet with

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Speaker 1: David Spears? Will you meet with Vincentansia?

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Speaker 3: So I just want to correct something there. The last

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Speaker 3: time David Spears did write to us in June, we

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Speaker 3: had actually accepted that invitation and we never actually heard

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Speaker 3: back from him, so I presumed it was just a

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Speaker 3: a publicity stunt to be able to keep saying that

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Speaker 3: we're refusing to meet and that there was not actually

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Speaker 3: a genuineness in that offer. But if it is still

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Speaker 3: if there is a genuine offer to me, then we

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Speaker 3: are open to meeting. But I think one of the

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Speaker 3: best things that Vincentazia can do to show that he

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Speaker 3: is genuine in this regard in really wanting to resolve

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Speaker 3: the ramping issue and the health issues that we have

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Speaker 3: is to stop disrespecting union members across South Australia and

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Speaker 3: work with us and the government to develop a bipartisan

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Speaker 3: approach for long term health planning so that public health

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Speaker 3: is not politicized.

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Speaker 1: Is he right in saying lives are being lost to ramping.

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Speaker 3: Yes, indeed they have in the past, and they have

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Speaker 3: very recently as well, and that it's not even in

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Speaker 3: consideration of the immense prolonged suffering of patients on the

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Speaker 3: ramps as well, some up to twelve to even more

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Speaker 3: hours on the ramp. Another example I heard just the

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Speaker 3: other day was a patient with a fractured spine being

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Speaker 3: transported from South Coast to Flinders who was rapped at

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Speaker 3: Flinders for nine hours. This is an incredible you know,

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Speaker 3: it's the suffering of everyday patients and the loss of

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Speaker 3: life that we just we absolutely need everyone focused on

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Speaker 3: resolving this and it is going to take a long

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Speaker 3: term approach. The reason why we are not seeing, you know,

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Speaker 3: rapid results from the initiatives that this government is doing,

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Speaker 3: is because many of those initiatives need time. We em beds,

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Speaker 3: we need time for the beds to come online. And

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Speaker 3: it was the fact that nothing, not enough, had been

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Speaker 3: done previously to prevent this situation from the pairing. We

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Speaker 3: didn't get here in just one or two years. This

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Speaker 3: was is of not investing in health, not investing in

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Speaker 3: the ambulance service that got us to this. It is

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Speaker 3: starting to turn around the ambulance service. The emergency response

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Speaker 3: times have improved drastically. They are still not where they

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Speaker 3: need to be, but we need a long term approach

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Speaker 3: for any color of government to stick to that approach

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Speaker 3: so that we can see the long term results.

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Speaker 1: You were not very hopeful a couple of weeks ago

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Speaker 1: that the ramping targets and health targets would be met.

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Speaker 1: Do you still feel that way? Has anything changed in

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Speaker 1: the last two or three weeks since he made those comments.

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Speaker 3: There are other initiatives that the government, as I understand,

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Speaker 3: is considering, in addition to everything else that they were considering.

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Speaker 3: So I'm quite dubious at the moment. I think everyone is,

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Speaker 3: and our members a cynical that we can turn around

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Speaker 3: five five hundred hours of ramping within the next two

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Speaker 3: years and get it back to you very reasonable levels.

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Speaker 1: What's reasonable? What do you think is reasonable?

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Speaker 3: I would say less than one thousand hours a month,

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Speaker 3: and even that seemed very achievable only a few years ago.

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Speaker 3: But it just yeah, it seems that there are a

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Speaker 3: lot of initiatives that need time to embed for them

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Speaker 3: to really start taking effects, and I just both think

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Speaker 3: we've really started to see the results.

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Speaker 1: Of some of them yet, So it'll take longer than

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Speaker 1: the eighteen months, for instance, in this time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, even with the additional initiatives that the government is doing.

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Speaker 3: And this is the this is why it's so important

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Speaker 3: that we plan for the long term.

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Speaker 1: Just to go back to the beginning, and David Spears

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Speaker 1: had not replied to your acceptance, is that correct? Well,

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Speaker 1: why didn't you come out and say we've accepted an

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Speaker 1: offer from David Spears? Why was there no publicity of that?

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Speaker 1: And that's in your court that one. So you accepted

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Speaker 1: his offer, he doesn't reply, wouldn't that be the time

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Speaker 1: to raise that.

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Speaker 3: Well, that's up to him and the Liberal Party if

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Speaker 3: they are if they genuinely wanted to meet. I'll put

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Speaker 3: it down to them not being genuine in that.

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Speaker 1: But surely you could have gone to the media saying, well,

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Speaker 1: we've offered to meet. He's saying that we haven't responded

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Speaker 1: to him. We have, we want to meet. Why didn't you.

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Speaker 3: It wasn't a priority for us to be honest? I

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Speaker 3: don't really think that there's anything any really tangible benefit

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Speaker 3: that our members stand to gain by meeting. Was his

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Speaker 3: It was his request to meet with us, to hear

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Speaker 3: from us on what we thought the problems with the

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Speaker 3: health system were, and for him to put to us

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Speaker 3: how he proposed to fix that. And so that was

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Speaker 3: his decision.

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Speaker 1: So is there anything tangental to be gain meeting with Vincentasia,

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Speaker 1: then well that.

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Speaker 3: Stands to be seen. But what I would hope to

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Speaker 3: get out of it is a commitment for a bipartisan

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Speaker 3: working relationship with US and the government, and a collaborative

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Speaker 3: working relationship with US as a union and other unions.

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Speaker 3: We're not the enemy. We represent the workers of this state.

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Speaker 1: Do you think to keep faith with people that you

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Speaker 1: should go back to writing slogans on ambulances that you

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Speaker 1: know obviously the systems of mess You don't think it'll

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Speaker 1: get better quickly. That's a great, great way of communicating.

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Speaker 1: It worked well in the lead up to the election,

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Speaker 1: So why didn't you go back to doing that and

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Speaker 1: letting people know with the thetas ambulances drive around.

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Speaker 3: I think the tangible difference here is that two to

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Speaker 3: three years ago we were raising this issue with the

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Speaker 3: Government of the day, and we were met with denial

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Speaker 3: and deflection that ramping was an issue, that ambulance response

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Speaker 3: times were an issue. When we were raising patient deaths

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Speaker 3: due to delayed response times, it was all the public

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Speaker 3: heard was our condolences to the families and that was it.

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Speaker 3: There was no plan for any further investment in the

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Speaker 3: ambulance service or the health system. The difference now is

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Speaker 3: that this government has invested seven billion dollars and they

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Speaker 3: are meeting with us regularly and they are dedicated. They

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Speaker 3: have committed to and are dedicated to resolving ramping, and

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Speaker 3: we see that in their actions and in their initiatives

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Speaker 3: that they are funding. So that is the key difference

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Speaker 3: between the two.

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Speaker 1: The twelve hours on the ramp that you referred to earlier,

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Speaker 1: that would tie up obviously, your paramedics, your members for

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Speaker 1: the whole shift, wouldn't it, because they'd go out pick

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Speaker 1: somebody up and then for the rest of their shift

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Speaker 1: they're on the ramp and probably earning overtime by the

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Speaker 1: end of that period, and for them they'd be caring

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Speaker 1: for that patient. I've been back in an ambulance with

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Speaker 1: a family member ramped not for hours fortunately for but

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Speaker 1: certainly a couple and the paramedics. So they're doing a

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Speaker 1: wonderful job as they do looking up, but overall on

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Speaker 1: their mental health that can't be great.

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Speaker 3: No, it's pretty frustrating. And I've spoken to a few

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Speaker 3: ambos just in the last few weeks on the ramps

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Speaker 3: who've just been at the point of tears that they

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Speaker 3: are so frustrated at not being able to get patients

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Speaker 3: into hospital that they know need to be in their

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Speaker 3: receiving treatment, but also having to sit with a patient

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Speaker 3: for that length of time and see their pain and

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Speaker 3: suffering and their frustration is you know, that takes an

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Speaker 3: emotional toll on them as well. It's also hearing while

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Speaker 3: they're ramped with that one patient for twelve hours, they're

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Speaker 3: hearing on the radio all of these uncovered emergencies in

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Speaker 3: the community that are getting a delayed ambulance response, and

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Speaker 3: they feel absolutely helpless. They're sitting there in this vehicle

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Speaker 3: that's ready to go. They've got all the equipment, they've

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Speaker 3: got all the knowledge and skills to be able to

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Speaker 3: help people, and yet they are stuck there and it's

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Speaker 3: just it's.

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Speaker 1: Infuriating I'm sure it is leap what cans. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: coming on and having a chat. So if Vincentanzi writes

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Speaker 1: to you, you'll accept his invitation.

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Speaker 3: Presumably he has actually written. We've received that and I

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Speaker 3: am in the process of drafting a response, but it

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Speaker 3: will be to accept that invitation. So I'm sure we

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Speaker 3: will be meeting in the new future.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for your time this morning.

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Speaker 3: No, thank you.

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Speaker 1: Lea Watkins, Secretary, Ambulance Employees Association,