NSW paramedics are stepping up industrial action in their fight for better resources as ambulance services face unprecedented demand.
Australian Paramedics Association NSW vice president Scott Beaton says workloads are unsustainable and ambulance services operate in perpetual crisis.
"We're fighting for the resourcing we need to protect the safety of our colleagues and communities," he said on Thursday.
"We're tired of apologising for arriving to patients hours late.
"We are tired of worrying our patient will be sicker because we can't get there in time," he said.
As a way of both saying sorry and advancing its industrial action, APA member paramedics will from Monday refuse to take patients' billing details.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard says the public values and appreciates paramedics and the state is doing what it can to support them.
"But there's a lot of pressure in every different area, and particularly the health area," he said on Thursday.
The minister said he doesn't believe many paramedics will take part in industrial action, and he intends to continue working with the larger Health Services Union to address concerns in the state budget in June.
The HSU, which represents staff ranging from doctors to hospital cleaners, wants at least 2000 more paramedics.
The union's NSW secretary Gerard Hayes told AAP it was just as critical for paramedics to receive a pay rise.
"We don't have enough paramedics to deal with surging demand. Our paramedics are underpaid, overworked and demoralised," he said.
NSW Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan said paramedics were still turning up for the community despite the challenges.
"The amount of cases that NSW Ambulance has been going to is genuinely in the unprecedented category," Mr Morgan said earlier this week.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, NSW ambulance crews would attend about one million calls a year.
In 2021 there were 1.43 million triple-zero calls with 116,000 in April alone, he said.
