Ed,

No community consultation has been nor will be undertaken by NSW Ambulance regarding a new ambulance staffing roster to be introduced on Saturday 15 March, less than 3 weeks away, for the Yamba Ambulance Station.

The new roster will eliminate on-call staff. On-call staff are generally kept in town to cover emergencies while duty crew are often deployed on non-emergency work at other locations. Frequently, ambulances from the Lower Clarence are servicing Grafton resulting in no ambulances in the Lower Clarence with consequent slower response times to emergency calls.

If staff are no longer required to be on call, they will not be required to reside in the station’s response area, resulting in slower emergency response times and the inability of ambulance staff to reach Yamba when it is isolated by flooding.

The rostering system changes will affect everyone, young and old. At the 2021 census the median age in Yamba was 57. No doubt the median age will have increased by the 2026 census due to the many people in the over 50 age group retiring here. Yamba needs an improved ambulance service, not detrimental changes.

We encourage community members to post/email letters regarding the changes to our local member, Mr Richie Williamson MP, 11 Prince Grafton NSW 2460 clarence@parliament.nsw.gov.au and the NSW Minister for Health, The Hon. Ryan Park MP, GPO Box 5341, Sydney NSW 2001.

Online messages can be provided to Minister Ryan Park via the online form at www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/ministers/minister-for-health-minister-for-regional-health-and-minister-for-illawarra-and-south-coast .

Anita Neville,

Yamba Community Ambulance Working Party