'Never been this bad': Thousands of paramedics to strike in NSW today

Paramedics in New South Wales will go on strike today as the union calls for more staff and more specialists to alleviate what they say is an unsustainable workload.

Australian Paramedics Association NSW organiser Catherine Treloar reassured people that ambulances would still be ready to respond to emergencies during the strike.

"So today what we're doing is refusing to move from our home stations, we're refusing to enter billing details of patients, and we're not going to report on key performance indicators," she told Today.

READ MORE: Icy polar blast to sweep Australia as winter looms

"What that means if you call for an ambulance we'll be there, and hopefully, you won't get a bill."

Treloar said the strike action was not aimed at taking paramedics off the street, but at hitting the NSW government's budget bottom line.

"What is needed is 1500 more paramedics at the least," she said.

READ MORE: Nationals face leadership stoush as Dutton prepares to head Liberals

"We need more specialists so people can be treated at home, not go to hospital. Better community care so people can be treated in the community rather than going to hospital."

She said increasing reports of emergency patients being left in an ambulance for hours because overworked hospitals were unable to find them a bed showed the scale of the problem.

"We're seeing situations where paramedics are stuck at hospital and they can't go to an incident down the street," Treloar said.

READ MORE: Biden visits memorial to victims of Texas school shooting

"What frontline workers are telling me is that it's never been this bad.

"Some of the paramedics have been in the job decades, 30 years almost, and they're saying they've never seen it this bad."

The NSW government has put on 300 extra paramedics since the start of the year, but Treloar said it was only "scratching the surface" of the issue.