Mr Duddy said Murrurundi, Stroud and Gloucester should have fully staffed ambulance stations with at least two paramedics rostered on at all times to respond to local emergencies.

He said several Upper Hunter ambulance stations were reliant upon volunteers to cover shifts when fully trained staff were not available.

“This is a question of public safety,” Mr Duddy said.

“The only solution is to fund these stations to ensure there are two fully trained paramedics available for each ambulance.”

Mr Duddy said he supported maintaining a volunteer pool within the service across the region but that volunteers should not be used as a replacement for full-time professional paramedics.

In response, Upper Hunter MP George Souris told the Hunter Valley News he had addressed Parliament last March to oppose the use of volunteer ambulance drivers as a substitute for trained paramedic staff and that in his opinion the matter had already been resolved.

“The question of volunteer drivers was a policy Labor tried to introduce last year into ambulance stations at Stroud, Merriwa and Dungog in the electorate and a number of locations outside the electorate such as Buladelah,” Mr Souris said.

“It was vigorously opposed by the Coalition and a commitment was given that volunteer drivers would not be a policy of the Coalition.

“The Labor government dropped the scheme but it has recently arisen again in public debate.”

Mr Souris said the Coalition had not changed its position of opposition to the use of volunteer drivers and that is was a “non-issue” unless Labor was re-elected.

Mr Duddy said Upper Hunter residents wanted assurance that more trained paramedics would be be employed across the region should the Coalition win the forthcoming state election.

“Mr Souris made a number of comments to local residents as well as in parliament last year about not supporting volunteers in these critical positions, but there has been no commitment to fully fund these stations and increase paramedic numbers,” Mr Duddy said.

The Ambulance Service of NSW said there were five full-time paramedics on staff in Scone, three in Murrurundi, three in Merriwa and nine in Muswellbrook as well as two trainees and 12 full-time paramedics and one trainee in Singleton.