The Tasmanian Industrial Commission has been told the state government’s ambulance transfer policy is unsafe, as a dispute over emergency department conditions moves towards arbitration.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) made the claim during a hearing this week, arguing patients are being offloaded into hospitals without adequate staffing or monitoring.
Many are left in corridors or other non-clinical spaces, out of sight of clinicians, the union said.
At the centre of the dispute is the state government’s transfer-of-care protocol, which requires ambulances to leave hospitals within 60 minutes.
The government wants to tighten that target to 45 minutes, but nurses and doctors argue the change would put patients at risk.
“Nursing workloads are exceeding safe standards, with no additional resources,” the ANMF said.
The union told the commission the protocol removes clinical judgement by forcing rigid prioritisation rules on staff, creating “professional risk, moral injury, burnout and real safety concerns”.
Health Minister Bridget Archer rejected the criticism, pointing to data showing ambulances spent 17,500 fewer hours ramped in 2024-25 compared with the previous year – a reduction of nearly 64%.
She said “more than 89%” of ambulances left major hospitals within 60 minutes over the past week, describing it as an “outstanding result”.
Labor’s shadow health minister Sarah Lovell said the figures masked a deeper problem.
“We have data that is showing that ambulance response times are not improving. In fact they’re getting worse,” she said.
“It doesn’t achieve anything to say you’re going to ban ambulance ramping when all you’re doing is moving those passengers from the ramp into the corridor and into the emergency department.”
Lovell accused the government of prioritising “an election campaign slogan” over genuine consultation with frontline workers.
The ANMF said it had repeatedly requested compliance data from the health department but had received nothing.
The commission’s president accepted the union’s argument, with a directions hearing scheduled for April 24.
Greens health spokesperson Cecily Rosol said the government had never properly responded to recommendations from the ambulance ramping inquiry.
“Of course we need to get ambulances back on the road sooner, but the government needs to stop pretending this is a simple issue,” she said.
“It’s time they got on board with putting in place deep and lasting solutions.”
