Suicides reveal ambulance officer stress

There are fresh calls for more support for ambulance officers after a 46-year-old St John Ambulance volunteer took his own life last week.

St John Ambulance has now confirmed four suicides by current or former paramedics and ambulance officers in the past 15 months.

The volunteer most recently worked at SJA's Dawesville depot.

SJA chief executive Tony Ahern offered condolences to the officer's family, friends and colleagues.

"This death will be felt by everyone in the St John community and we'd like everyone in that community to know that support and professional counselling is available to them," Mr Ahern said.

Two SJA paramedics killed themselves in one week in November, sparking debate about help for ambulance staff to deal with trauma.

Shadow health minister Roger Cook said a parliamentary inquiry into the issue was needed.

He said there was clearly a lot of stress and anxiety among workers inside St John, which he believed was doing what it could.

But Mr Cook said it was an important public policy issue where something was going wrong.

"We should be looking at ways we can support our paramedics . . . in a much more effective way," he said.

United Voice assistant secretary Pat O'Donnell said incidents in the past 15 months highlighted difficulties ambulance officers faced.

He said suicides indicated there was not enough effective support for people exposed to such work.

Health Minister Kim Hames said he needed more information on the incident before he would comment.

If you or someone you know has depression, phone Lifeline on 13 11 14