NSW Ambulance – your questions answered
NSW Ambulance is a vital part of our community and is working closely with the project team to prepare for the opening of the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital. Recently, we met with their team to learn more about their operations across Eurobodalla and how they triage and care for individuals in life-threatening situations.
How do NSW Ambulance manage transfers between Batemans Bay and Moruya during times of high traffic and the busy holiday season?
Paramedics are a mobile workforce and respond from one patient to the next across locations, regardless of whether they are located at a hospital, an ambulance station or another location.
During periods of higher demand NSW Ambulance can fluidly deploy resources to where they are needed most, helping deliver the best possible out-of-hospital care for the community.
How will NSW Ambulance ensure there are enough ambulances available to transfer people from Batemans Bay and surrounds to the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital?
Requests for ambulances are triaged according to urgency and clinical need to ensure the most appropriate response to all patients.
NSW Ambulance Emergency Medical Call Takers (EMCT) follow internationally recognised and evidence-based predetermined scripts to determine the priority of each incident, based on the patient’s presenting symptoms. This allows NSW Ambulance to determine an appropriate response.
Where an ambulance isn’t required immediately, experienced clinicians from the NSW Ambulance Virtual Clinical Care Centre (VCCC), provide comprehensive and integrated secondary triage to better understand the needs of the patient.
For patients who don’t require an ambulance to attend to them and can be managed safely at home, the VCCC also provides alternate referral services such as referral to a General Practitioner, Pharmacist, or other health care provider.
This allows NSW Ambulance to ensure the right patient receives the right care in the right place at the right time by the right care provider.
Virtual care by VCCC clinicians ensures that patients with lower critical care needs who can safely remain in the community do so, thereby keeping frontline paramedics for life-threatening emergencies.
Will NSW Ambulance be recruiting more paramedics / ambulances?
NSW Ambulance applies a Clinical Capability Assessment as well as a service planning methodology to determine the placement of clinical resources within geographical areas. This methodology considers patient safety and the volume and mix of services required when determining clinical service levels.
NSW Ambulance conducts regular analysis of all locations within NSW to identify areas of growing demand for prioritisation of resources. This includes the use of best practice modelling software which maps Triple Zero (000) calls to determine the most suitable location for emergency care, including examination of current response areas and modelling of potential station locations to best meet patient need.
What is NSW Ambulance process to triage/ care for people in life threatening conditions?
Requests for ambulances are triaged according to urgency and clinical need to ensure the most appropriate response to all patients.
NSW Ambulance Emergency Medical Call Takers follow internationally recognised and evidence-based predetermined scripts to determine the location of an incident and the priority of each incident, based on the patient’s presenting symptoms.
NSW Ambulance uses the Medical Prioritisation Dispatch System (MPDS) to assist in triaging Triple Zero (000) calls from the community. Emergency medical call takers use a primary triage process that complies with international standards.