One Ambulance NSW paramedic said Wagga’s staffing numbers had not changed since 1989 but the workload increased almost eight-fold. 

Australian Paramedic Association (APA) zone liaison Darren Rudd said 26 staff members were not enough to sufficiently cover the approximate 1500 emergencies across the city every year.

He said units in surrounding areas often helped Wagga paramedics, abandoning outlying stations or leaving them under-staffed.

Mr Rudd said Junee and Lockhart crews were routinely in the city and relied on off-duty crews when they were not rostered to work.

He said when there were no resources in either town, crews travelled from either Cootamundra or Wagga – at least 20 minutes away.

“It comes back to our nature as paramedics,” Mr Rudd said. “If someone’s in trouble we go.”

He said the stress of a 12-hour emergency job – one of the most injury prone in the country – meant fatigue was an issue for all staff. 

Mr Rudd said it seemed Ambulance NSW was the poor brother of the Department of Health and often overlooked when it came to funding.

APA secretary and Gundagai paramedic Gary Wilson said not much had changed in 15 years.

“The obvious outcome is increased risk to members of the public,” Mr Wilson said.

“Any delays due to lack of resourcing lead to worse outcomes for the people we’re supposed to be caring for.” 

He said despite the lights and sirens, Ambulance NSW were not treated like other emergency services.