An extraordinary number of Ambulance Tasmania staff are suffering from mental health conditions, and many are self-medicating with drugs and alcohol, documents obtained by the ABC reveal.
Ambulance Tasmania last year committed to overhauling its workplace culture in the face of "concerning" feedback from staff, but did not detail what the nature of the comments were.
The organisation sought staff input following a series of worrying staff testimonies given during the inquest into Damian Crump, who took his own life using drugs he had stolen from the ambulance service's supply store in 2016.
The inquest is exploring Ambulance Tasmania's mental health support and drug security.
Information obtained by the ABC under right to information (RTI) laws sheds light on the depth of the issues reported by Ambulance Tasmania's workforce in a "resilience scan" undertaken last September.
More than a third of the 323 staff who responded, or 36 per cent, reported depression, anxiety, stress, or post traumatic stress disorder, and 17 per cent were medicated either for those issues or for lack of sleep.
Seventy per cent of ambulance staff who responded reported trouble sleeping as a result of their work, and 11 per cent were self-medicating with drugs and alcohol to get through the day.
According to the 2020-21 annual report, Tasmania's ambulance services had 592 employees.
A draft document prepared by the company that did the scan, Frontline Mind, said those who did not respond "have often given up hoping for change or action based on feedback".
The sentence was removed from the final version sent to staff, as was a quote from a worker who raised concerns about feeling that they "don't matter" and that some in management showed a "lack of respect."
That paragraph was replaced in the final version with a different quote expressing pride after a project progressed forward.
The RTI documents include an email chain between Ambulance Tasmania chief executive Joe Acker and Frontline Mind staff discussing tweaks to the report before it was finalised.
The documents also include a briefing note to Health Secretary Kathrine Morgan-Wicks in October, which said "overall, the results indicated a workplace which is described as a 'traffic jam,' with managers considered to be non-responsive, authoritative and threatening".
The briefing note said most responses reflected poorly on Ambulance Tasmania's reputation.
One staff member wrote they had experienced a "complete lack of professionalism" from managers towards staff.
"I have had difficulty mentoring new staff members to a clinical role due to lack of direction, planning and blatant disregard for professional standards," they said.
Swathes of the right-to-information documents have been redacted.
'We have listened', says CEO
In a statement, Mr Acker said Ambulance Tasmania was "up front about the [survey] findings, fully briefing our staff and making a public statement in early January".
"Since that time, we have worked to implement a range of measures designed to improve workplace culture and provide additional support for employees."
He said as a result of a "series of 14 workshops around the state for employees to provide feedback and suggestions to AT's executive team", a "significant number of action items have been identified, with feedback continuing to be refined to determine priorities".
"Our staff do an amazing job each and every day and night and are dedicated to saving lives and serving the Tasmanian community, and I want every employee of AT to feel that they are fully supported in their role," Mr Acker said in the statement.
"That's why I and the entire executive team have listened to the valuable feedback of staff through the resilience scan and have committed to improve workplace culture and to better support our employees."
