There’s something not right about the article. It’s talking about non-emergency patient transport but referring to a bus crash with trauma patients. Whatever their bosses told them, the NEPT interviewed were not going anywhere near that incident since they’re not paramedics and are not trained to provide clinical assistance, so their shift with Victoria Ambulance is completely unrelated to the incident.

And the quote referred to how Nick felt gutted about transporting patients to doctors appointments like it’s a waste of resource. That’s literally the point of NEPT. The staff are not paramedics and the vehicle are not ambulances. The NEPT at best would’ve been involved with transporting uninjured children at the incident, which Victoria Ambulance had already arranged with a bus (which is far better for traceability and logistics than a dozen NEPT being called).

The general point of private operators not meeting their contractual obligations is fair. The government just needs to enforce its contract better and apply penalties if they don’t provide the number of staff they’re obligated to.

Ambulance services should be required to be diverted to emergencies. I don’t know why that’s not the case.

I know health care workers are required to render assistance if they pass an emergency, don’t see why this should be any different.