I see in a media report of a man who called 000 ten times, only to die some 4 minutes after they arrived THREE HOURS LATER.

Early reports suggest two shortcomings.

1. Several staff didn't want to work on grand final day.

2. Many staff on a meal break because they had worked 6 hours without a break.

Now as for 1. If you would have normally worked that day, then tough! Do your job.

2. There are reports suggesting they were 50% busier than normal. So, sorry people we can't help you because the union says we have to have a break.

So what's next. Soldiers not being available to fight due to a meal break.

Is it little wonder our nation is becoming the laughing stock of our region when it comes to how weak our workforce has become..

All this means rehctub is that there are not enough staff in those operational roles to cover for those meal breaks. All the budget is being spent on the Wah Wah jobs at the top and you are lucky if extra can trickle down to the bottom end. And yes it is usually the lowest paid that work in these frontline positions.

Your one-side scenario is not usually the reality. I have worked in a couple of jobs where public demands meant no breaks during times that were very busy and where it was important for the operation to be manned. Most people use their commonsense but then might make approaches to management to ensure that there are enough staff on to cope with the workload, in real life that does not always happen and most people go the extra mile despite how the unions might react even if it means eating dinner at your desk in between operational requirements.

Also look at it another way. One of the problems in our local large hospital is the long hours that doctors and nurses in the casualty ward work often without breaks to cope with the long queues of patients. These medical professionals are more likely to make a mistake when highly fatigued - many now working an average of 15 hour shifts. I know as a patient I would rather be treated by a rested person who is not overtired or as many are, suffering from depression and at the point of exhaustion.

Sometimes workers will do what they have to do. Most workers do have a sense of doing the right thing even if it means going without a break now and then.

The onus is on managers and policy makers to ensure that sufficient money is spent on service delivery and less on window dressing policy and empire building projects (or the dreaded SES bonuses).

'All the budget is being spent on the Wah Wah jobs at the top'

Gold! I love it. Wah Wah jobs. I gotta get me one of them.

In a job where the take home pay is often over $100,000, I believe it would be hard to find a "low paid worker" anywhere, except in the workshop where they maintain the vehicles.

Part of the problem is over specification of staff & vehicles. We now have 4 ton vehicles, better equipped than some country hospitals, with extremely highly qualified officers, so we can take the patient on a 100+Km scenic tour, looking for a hospital not on by-pass.

They can, when finally let into a hospital parking space, act as a high tech waiting room for some hours until the hospital finally bothers to see them.

I live in the middle of nowhere. However I do have 5 ambulance stations within 24Km of me. People in my area have noticed that the time taken to get an ambulance has grown proportionally to the cost & complication of the vehicles they use.

It is now not uncommon to wait an hour, even for a heart attack victim. Surprisingly, when you finally get one, you often get another in minutes. Could it be the meal brakes are over?

Of course while you have 2, some other patient is probably sweating on getting just one.

I don't know why anyone would expect anything else. Both the ambulance service & the hospitals are run by public servants.

One of the things I used to love about the TV show ER, was to see them running as they pushed a patient into the place. It used to break me up. Have you ever seen a public servant actually run, except to be first out the door of course?

It's unclear as to who may have been responsible for this event.

Did it take the 000 operators "hours" to put the call through to the correct area?

Did they put it through to the wrong area?

Was there a problem between the Ambulance or Emergency operators that took "hours' to resolve?

Was there a problem with the directions given?

What distances or other circumstances were involved?

Was there a problem in actually reaching the 000 operators?

Was there a problem with communication or with the message itself?

There seem to be many possibilities - none of which seem likely to be true but are generalised to the point of vaguely blaming "the system" itself.

As much as it's fashionable to stick it to all Public Servants I find it difficult to believe that emergency services would be so lax in responding to a genuine medical emergency.

What was the media report?

Rechtub asks us to believe the union is at fault.
That six hours mate is well out side rules not made by unions for meal breaks, it proves commitment by the workers.
An other talks of hundred thousands wages not likely.
Such jobs are very low paid even sent off shore so savings can be made.
The mighty dollar rules not sick or endangered people.
That young man, left to die in the NSW blue mountains? telling a silly operator time and again he was lost in the bush only to be told he must give his nearest street crossing.
What part rechtub did unions play there, what union here can you confirm it was a union member working to rules that bought this about?
Are you aware it is likely no union members work there.
Given the nature of the job only the best only truly committed should work there.
Like others here I am a ham radio operator, like them I often do free communications and believe me not every one can be trusted to do that job.
In the middle of an on air call for Ambos, after asking for radio silence declaring an emergency a woman constantly broke over me, to inform me she was out of bananas, my sick person died there on the road the lady afterwords said she heard me but wanted to have those bananas in case some one wanted them.
Blame the people but ask are you sure you know what truly happened who is to blame,
Start with wages pay peanuts get moneys.