By Alexandra Smith
Sydney Morning Herald
Copyright 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
SYDNEY, Austrailia — The apparent murder-suicide of a suspended ambulance paramedic will be raised at a parliamentary inquiry into the NSW Ambulance Service, which is also expected to hear of at least four other paramedics who have committed suicide.
The upper house MP Robyn Parker, chairwoman of the parliamentary inquiry into the ambulance service, said she had been “inundated” with calls from paramedics detailing workplace bullying and harassment, low morale and high stress levels.
She said she also received a call this week about Trent Speering, an officer with the ambulance service’s Blue Mountains regional command, who was found dead with his mother inside her Baulkham Hills home last week.
Mr Speering, who was suspended from the service for harassing staff, outlined his list of grievances in letters posted to media outlets before and on the day he is believed to have killed himself and his mother.
It is not yet known how the pair died but the service has confirmed Mr Speering had been suspended since August and was facing disciplinary proceedings.
Ms Parker said her office had heard an unprecedented number of anecdotes about stress levels in the service but paramedics were scared to make submissions, despite assurances their identity could be protected.
“Anecdotally, we can see there is a high suicide rate among ambulance officers,” Ms Parker said.
“What is also surprising is that they are violent suicides, hanging and shooting themselves - and not just men, women, too.”
An ambulance service spokesman said suicide should “not be trivialised in any way, shape or form for personal or political gain”.
Ms Parker said she would raise the case of Mr Speering in the inquiry, although she urged paramedics to lodge written submissions on any grievance.