Ambo agony

By Melissa Grant
SERIOUSLY injured and critically ill people in Emerald, Officer, Pakenham and Beaconsfield are enduring longer ambulance waits than most residents in metropolitan Melbourne.
State Government figures, obtained by Ambulance Employees Australia through freedom of information, show people living in Emerald wait an average 26 minutes and 46 seconds for an ambulance – well below the Victorian benchmark of 15 minutes.
Only Healesville residents are worse off, waiting an average 29 minutes and 29 seconds for paramedics.
Officer (23, 52) ranks fourth for the longest average ambulance wait in metropolitan Melbourne, Pakenham sixth (23, 32) and Beaconsfield eighth (22, 12). The average wait was 15, 57.
Ambulance Employees Australia general secretary Steve McGhie blamed a lack of resources and a massive workload increase for the delays.
“Overall it’s pretty poor and it doesn’t give the Victorian public the best opportunity of survival if there’s such a delay in an ambulance arriving,” he said.
Mr McGhie said Melbourne’s outer suburbs were being hit particularly hard by resource shortages.
“It clearly shows paramedics in the Pakenham area are working extremely long hours and are doing a fantastic job, but they’re doing it under duress in not having enough resources out there,” he said.
An Ambulance Victoria spokesman said while there was room for improvement, average response times had improved by 33 seconds over the past two years.
“We’ve got more resources to come on board so our times are definitely going in the right direction,” he said.
“We realise we can’t have an ambulance on every corner.
“In the Pakenham area there has been significant growth in the population in recent years and we are starting to put the resources down there to match that area.”
The spokesman also said 23 new ambulance teams had been established in metropolitan Melbourne in the past two years and cardiac survival rates were improving.
“The important thing to note is in the same time frame our cardiac survival rates have continued to increase to above 54 per cent,” he said.
Mr McGhie said Ambulance Employees Australia was this week continuing crisis talks with Ambulance Victoria and the State Government.
It is seeking 10-hour rest breaks and for paramedics to be paid like other health professionals.
Last year, the State Government invested a record $186 million into ambulance services to combine the former Metropolitan Ambulance Service, Rural Ambulance Victoria and the Alexandra District Ambulance Service into a statewide service.
Health Minister Daniel Andrews last week welcomed a record intake of 302 graduating paramedics to the service as Ambulance Victoria celebrated its first birthday.