Leaked emails from Ambulance Victoria reveal that in 43 border towns,the closest ambulance is not always being dispatched.
Paramedics say urgent care is their “bread and butter” and they could help ease the strain if GPs could employ them under Medicare.
Paramedics are calling for an overhaul of Victoria’s emergency call-taking and dispatch system amid concerns that they are wasting too much time responding to patients with minor health issues.
Father-of-three Nick Panagiotopoulos could have survived his heart attack if his triple-zero call had been answered straight away. Instead,he died.
Two-person ambulance crews are routinely stuck at emergency departments for hours before they are cleared to pick up a new patient.
Patients are getting sicker as they languish on stretchers,while Victorian ambulance crews have spent more than 523,000 hours waiting in emergency departments since 2018.
Jasmin Hussein,whose 14-year-old daughter Alisha died waiting for an ambulance,hopes the new changes to the state’s emergency hotline will prevent more unnecessary deaths.
The premier says Ambulance Victoria’s budget is well managed and “cultural change sometimes has some costs associated with it”.
The latest health performance data shows a rise in the number of people languishing in emergency departments as they wait for a bed.
“I often wonder how those kids are going. They were very lucky. Did he show them mercy or did he not know they were in the bedroom?”
A new scheme will be set up to offer former and current employees of the state ambulance service an apology,compensation and restorative sessions with leaders.