The recruitment of three additional nurses has helped address a staffing crisis at Wyndham Hospital, while offsetting the loss of a community paramedic who had been helping out in the emergency department.
The hospital's normal contingent of nine nurses plummeted to three last month following repeated break-ins at staff accommodation.
St John WA then agreed to redirect a community paramedic based in the Kimberley town to the hospital's emergency department.
At the time, WA Country Health Service had been struggling to replace the nurses who left due to the safety concerns with staff housing and border closures.
But the help provided by St John WA was scaled back this week when the paramedic in the ED, and another who had been on normal duties in Wyndham, both left their roles.
"We have a different community paramedic heading up, who will try to assist at the hospital where they can," a St John WA spokesperson said.
WACHS says paramedic did not 'assist with front-facing patient care'
A WACHS spokesperson insisted to the ABC that the loss of the paramedic in the ED did not amount to a loss in health staff, because the paramedic "had not been assisting with front-facing patient care".
However, last month both WACHS and St John WA said the community paramedic at Wyndham Hospital would "support nursing staff with patient assessments" in the emergency department.
And when answering questions about the crisis in state parliament in October, Health Minister Roger Cook also said he thought paramedics were well trained to manage patients in the ED setting.
WACHS Kimberley regional director Bec Smith said the three additional full-time nurses were a mix of agency staff and workers from within WA Health.
It was only after the ABC revealed last month that nurses were being asked to work unsafe hours, that WACHS decided to scale back the 24/7 hospital to 12 hours a day.
WACHS has said the move is only temporary and not a path towards closure.
