Ambulance Tasmania

Last updated

Ambulance Tasmania
Ambulance Tasmania logo.svg
Agency overview
Jurisdiction Government of Tasmania
Employees379
Parent agency Department of Health
Website Tasmanian Ambulance Service

Ambulance Tasmania, formerly known as the Tasmanian Ambulance Service, provides ambulance services in the state of Tasmania, Australia. The service was established by the Ambulance Service Act 1982 [1] and operates within the Department of Health.

Contents

Ambulance Tasmania responded to 83,797 incidents in the 2017-2018 period, making approximately 230 incidents per day. [2] 34,653 of these were classed as emergency incidents.

Staffing

The service has approximately 600 volunteer officers and 378 paid staff. [3] [2] Ambulance Tasmania uses a range of registered Paramedics, Intensive Care Paramedics and Extended Care Paramedics. In addition the service utilises Doctors and nurses in some circumstances. [3] Patient transport staff are also utilised in urban areas.

Volunteers working with Ambulance Tasmania generally operate in one of two ways. Volunteer Ambulance Officers will respond on 000 calls on ambulances, either with a registered Paramedic or with another volunteer or in a response car where Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) exist. [4]

Volunteer Ambulance Officers operate from 41 of the 55 locations across the state. Ambulance Tasmania has four levels of volunteer ranging from non-clinical level 1 to level 4 where a volunteer can perform some clinical assessments and intervention alone. [5]

Locations

Ambulance Tasmania operates from 55 locations across the state. These locations are staff with a mix of paid staff and volunteers depending on location. [6]

Funding

Ambulance Tasmania is funded through a combination of government grants/contributions, fees and subscription/other income sources. In the 2017–18 financial year the service was funded for the value of $75.8 million. [2]

This is up on the previous two financial years, being $64.8 million and $58.6 million respectively.

The service is generally provided free to Tasmanian residents. [7]

In 2018 the state government announced a $125 million investment in Ambulance Tasmania over the next four years, including upgraded Helicopter Emergency Medical Service, secondary triage, replacement stations and additional staff and training facilities. [8]

Rescue

Two BK 117's operate out of Hobart airport as aeromedical helicopters which are shared with the Tasmanian Police contracted from the Tasmania Air Rescue Trust. These helicopters and both night flight and winch capable. They are fitted with high intensity spotlights and infrared cameras. Ambulance Tasmania staff this helicopter with Paramedics currently as the service has traditionally operated as a rescue service. In the future the aircraft will be staffed by both a Paramedic as well as six doctors and be remodelled to focus on emergency medicine. [9]

Fleet

Mercedes Benz Sprinter ambulances Tasmanian Ambulances Mercedes.jpg
Mercedes Benz Sprinter ambulances

Ambulance Tasmania operates a fleet of 164 vehicles. [2] This includes a fleet of Mercedes Sprinter ambulances. Most are used for Emergency Ambulance roles with a small amount being used for patient transport.

The service utilises a number of rapid response vehicles for single responders such as CERT responders, officers or managers and specialist paramedics.

To access more remote parts of the state or when in inclement weather the service has a number of Toyota Land Cruiser 4x4 ambulances across the state.

Ambulance Tasmania also operates three special operations vehicles for bariatric, neonatal and scene command roles. There is one vehicle based in Hobart, Launceston and Burnie respectively. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Ambulance Service</span> Ambulance service in London

The London Ambulance Service NHS Trust (LAS) is an NHS trust responsible for operating ambulances and answering and responding to urgent and emergency medical situations within the London region of England. The service responds to 999 phone calls across the region, and 111 phone calls from certain parts, providing triage and advice to enable an appropriate level of response.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New South Wales Ambulance</span> Provider of pre-hospital emergency care in New South Wales, Australia

NSW Ambulance, previously the Ambulance Service of NSW, is an agency of NSW Health and the statutory provider of pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Ireland Ambulance Service</span> Ambulance service that serves the whole of Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service is an ambulance service that serves the whole of Northern Ireland, approximately 1.9 million people. As with other ambulance services in the United Kingdom, it does not charge its patients directly for its services, but instead receives funding through general taxation. It responds to medical emergencies in Northern Ireland with the 300-plus ambulance vehicles at its disposal. Its fleet includes mini-buses, ambulance officers' cars, support vehicles, RRVs and accident and emergency ambulances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Ambulance Service</span> Scotlands public ambulance services

The Scottish Ambulance Service is part of NHS Scotland, which serves all of Scotland's population. The Scottish Ambulance Service is governed by a special health board and is funded directly by the Health and Social Care Directorates of the Scottish Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service</span> Helicopter rescue service in Australia

The Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service is a helicopter surf lifesaving service that operates in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yorkshire Ambulance Service</span> Ambulance trust in Yorkshire, England

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS) is the NHS ambulance service covering most of Yorkshire in England. It is one of ten NHS Ambulance Trusts providing England with emergency medical services as part of the National Health Service it receives direct government funding for its role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Midlands Ambulance Service</span> Ambulance trust in England

The West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust (WMAS UNHSFT) is responsible for providing NHS ambulance services within the West Midlands region of England. It is one of ten ambulance trusts providing England with emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency medical services in the United States</span>

In the United States, emergency medical services (EMS) provide out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care for those in need. They are regulated at the most basic level by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets the minimum standards that all states' EMS providers must meet, and regulated more strictly by individual state governments, which often require higher standards from the services they oversee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom</span>

Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom provide emergency care to people with acute illness or injury and are predominantly provided free at the point of use by the four National Health Services (NHS) of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is only free to UK residents and a charge may be made to those not entitled to free NHS care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile intensive care ambulance</span>

Australian mobile intensive care ambulances (MICA) are well-equipped ambulances staffed by highly trained paramedics dispatched to emergency situations where patients require a higher level of care than a regular ambulance can provide.

SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) is a State Government agency under SA Health, that provides emergency ambulance transport, clinical care and non emergency patient transport services to over 1.5 million people, distributed across an area of 1,043,514 square kilometres in South Australia, Australia.

Since 1 July 2008, Ambulance Victoria has been the sole provider of emergency ambulance services in Victoria, having been formed from the merger of the three previous providers of emergency ambulance services: the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS), Rural Ambulance Victoria (RAV), and the Alexandra District Ambulance Service (ADAS).

St John Ambulance New South Wales is a charitable organisation dedicated to helping people in sickness, distress, suffering or danger. It provides first aid training and event and community health care services. It is part of an international organisation that consists of eight Priories that form the Order of St John. The organisation is sometimes incorrectly referred to "St John's Ambulance" or "St Johns Ambulance" (plural/possessive) instead of "St John Ambulance" (singular).

Emergency medical services in Australia are provided by state ambulance services, which are a division of each state or territorial government, and by St John Ambulance in both Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency medical services in Poland</span> Overview of emergency medical services in Poland

State Medical Rescue in Poland is a system of free public emergency healthcare established by Ustawa o Państwowym Ratownictwie Medycznym, including ambulance service and Emergency Departments (EDs). While in Polish public hospitals and clinics NFZ common public insurance is required, PRM medical services in ambulances and EDs are completely free for everyone. Since 2018 emergency ambulances that operates in PRM, that is Polish 112 and 999 emergency numbers, are operated by public entities only.

Emergency medical services in New Zealand are provided by the Order of St John, except in the Greater Wellington region where Wellington Free Ambulance provides these services. Both have a history of long service to their communities, St John since 1885 and Free beginning in 1927, traditionally having a volunteer base, however the vast majority of response work is undertaken by paid career Paramedics. Strategic leadership of the sector is provided by NASO which is a unit within the Ministry of Health responsible for coordinating the purchasing and funding of services on behalf of the Ministry and the Accident Compensation Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queensland Ambulance Service</span> State ambulance service in Queensland, Australia

The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) is the state emergency ambulance and patient transport provider in Queensland, Australia. QAS is part of the Queensland Government under the Queensland Health portfolio and is one of the largest ambulance services in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HSE National Ambulance Service</span> Irish ambulance service

The National Ambulance Service is the statutory public ambulance service in Ireland. The service is operated by the National Hospitals Office of the Health Service Executive, the Irish national healthcare authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambulance Victoria</span>

Ambulance Victoria (AV), a Victorian agency of the Department of Health, is the statutory provider of pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services in Victoria. Ambulance Victoria was formed on 1 July 2008 with the merger of the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS), Rural Ambulance Victoria (RAV), and the Alexandra District Ambulance Service (ADAS). Ambulance Victoria has undergone significant reform since 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorcycle ambulance</span> Type of emergency vehicle

A motorcycle ambulance is a type of emergency response vehicle which carries either a solo paramedic, emergency medical technician, or first responder to a patient; or may also be used with a trailer or sidecar for transporting patients. Because of its small size and agile performance, a motorcycle ambulance is able to respond to a medical emergency much faster than a car or conventional ambulance vehicle in heavy traffic, which can increase survival rates for critically ill patients, especially those in cardiac arrest.

References

  1. Ambulance Tasmania. 1 January 1983.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Ambulance services" (PDF). www.pc.gov.au.
  3. 1 2 3 "Emergency Ambulance | Ambulance and Health Transport". www.dhhs.tas.gov.au. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019.
  4. "Community Emergency Response Teams" (PDF). www.dhhs.tas.gov.au. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2019.
  5. "Got some spare time and want to do something really interesting?" (PDF). www.dhhs.tas.gov.au. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 April 2019.
  6. "Ambulance Locations | Ambulance and Health Transport". www.dhhs.tas.gov.au. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019.
  7. "Fees and Accounts | Ambulance and Health Transport". www.dhhs.tas.gov.au. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019.
  8. "$125 million investment in Ambulance Services". www.tas.liberal.org.au. 13 February 2018. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019.
  9. Rowbottom, Chris (18 October 2018). "Rescue helicopter service funding injection set to chop wait times, 'save 9 lives a year' - ABC News". www.abc.net.au.
  10. "Vehicle Fleet | Ambulance and Health Transport". ambulance.tas.gov.au. 23 October 2024.