Karratha celebrates 24/7 paramedic coverage

• St John WA has appointed two full-time paramedics to the Karratha sub centre as part of a $10 million WA Country Health investment into Regional Country Ambulance,
• The initiative means for the first time Karratha will receive 24/7 emergency ambulance coverage manned by paramedics,
• The new appointments are some of 25 additional paramedics added to the regions across 10 strategic initiatives.

St John WA’s Karratha sub centre has grown with two full-time paramedics added to the local sub centre as part of a $10 million WA Government investment into Regional Country Ambulance under a new agreement with WA Country Health Service.

The new paramedics mean for the first time, Karratha has around-the-clock paramedic coverage for emergency ambulance, meaning local volunteers are supported in their work.

Karratha is a composite career paramedic and Volunteer Ambulance Officer team which provides emergency ambulance services for a community of 22,000 people across 16,000 square km.

Under the investment, St John WA has also appointed paramedics to:

• East Bunbury to provide an additional ambulance crew for the area,
• Kalgoorlie to trial effect on service delivery when adding fully paramedic crewing to busy sub centres,
• Laverton and Mount Magnet each received additional community paramedics,
• The community paramedic relief pool to enable backfill relief and assure continuity of support to the volunteer model.

St John WA Head of Country Ambulance Justin Fonte said the additional funding introduced paramedics to Newman, Merredin and Narrogin where for the first time clinical volunteers would work alongside paramedics in a composite sub centre model.

“Our volunteers are at the heart of country ambulance and adding additional resources to support them is critical to delivering emergency ambulance across a region of more than 2.5 million km square,” Mr Fonte said.

Each initiative was approved by the Western Australian Country Health Service (WACHS), following dedicated research and assessment by WACHS and St John WA of contemporary ambulance activity and performance.