Paramedics are pushing for a trial of specialised officers to treat lower priority triple-0 calls, using regular vehicles instead of stretcher-bearing ambulances, and seeking to keep patients out of overburdened emergency departments.
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The specialists, known as extended-care paramedics, would look after less urgent jobs, for conditions such as gastroenteritis, dehydration and chronic pain.
The proposal, being pushed by the Transport Workers Union, is designed to free up ambulance resources for critical emergencies.
Similar programs have been trialled for years across NSW and South Australia.
Clinical staff, who began operating in the Emergency Services Agency's triple-0 communications centre last month, would triage patients based on information provided during their emergency call.
The clinicians would then decide whether the patient needed an ambulance response, with a crew of standard intensive-care paramedics, or whether a single extended-care paramedic would suffice.
The extended-care paramedics would also triage a patient upon arrival at the scene, and could determine whether the case was serious enough to be escalated to more intensive care.
TWU official Ben Sweaney is now calling on the Government to commit to a feasibility study for a trial of extended-care paramedics in Canberra.
''The feasibility study would cover such things as how an extended-care paramedic would be deployed, in what circumstances and what protocols would apply,'' Mr Sweaney said.
''We'd like the Government to commit to a feasibility study ... so that we can see what more we can do to make sure the members of the ACT community receive the very best pre-hospital care,'' he said.
The Government said it had not ruled out introducing extended-care paramedics in the ACT, but said the role had traditionally been better suited for rural and remote areas.
Emergency Services Minister Simon Corbell said the value of extended-care practitioners was still largely untested.
''This position, also known as Paramedic Practitioner is being trialled, but has not yet been evaluated, in other jurisdictions that involve large rural and remote areas where patients may be far removed from hospital tertiary treatment facilities,'' he said. ''In these situations, the ECP is provided with basic diagnostic and clinical skills not normally addressed in clinical skills applied within a metropolitan setting.''
Mr Corbell said the ACT Ambulance Service already had a number of mechanisms for managing the increasing levels of demand from the community.
''One mechanism that assists front-line and hospital operations is the use of Single Response Units on an availability basis,'' Mr Corbell said.
''These units, crewed by a single ICP officer are able to respond to pre-hospital incidents and may, where appropriate to patients' clinical needs, alleviate demand for stretcher ambulances.''
