Media Releases

The Nationals Member for Lowan Hugh Delahunty said this week ambulance emergency response times in regional and rural Victoria had blown out under John Brumby in the report tabled in the parliament by the Auditor General enquiring into ambulance services in Victoria.

“This enquiry was conducted by the Auditor-General in response to a request from Peter Ryan, Leader of the Nationals following reports of numerous cases of delayed attendances by Ambulance offers and in some cases associated deaths of patients,” Mr Delahunty said.

“This report shows ambulance response times are the worst in five years, confirming ambulance services are in crisis due to a lack of resources and funding.

“Over the past three years ambulance response times in regional Victoria have deteriorated at a greater rate than those in Melbourne, and now stand at an average four minutes longer than in the city,” Mr Delahunty said.

“In rural regions the average response time has increased from 13 minutes in 2004-2005 to 15 minutes in 2009-10, while in Melbourne in that same period it has increased from 9 minutes to 10 minutes.”

Mr Delahunty said the people of western Victoria were entitled to top quality health care regardless of where they live.

“I have been lobbying for improved ambulance services in western Victoria for many years.  We are still waiting for a new ambulance station to be built in Horsham, and continue to wait for extra ambulance crews.”

The Auditor General’s report shows that in western Victorian local government areas the Code 1 response time criteria of 15 minutes to be met in 85% of cases has not been achieved.  The number of times this critical 15 minute target was met were - Ararat Rural City 61.2%; Glenelg Shire 71.5%; Hindmarsh Shire 60.1% Horsham Rural City 83.7%; Northern Grampians 68%; Southern Grampians 71.2% and West Wimmera Shire 43.3%.

“It is clear that these response times are unacceptable.  The Auditor General also noted that “hospital ramping” where ambulances may be delayed at hospitals for several hours waiting for their patients to receive hospital treatment is a significant contributor to extending ambulance response times,” Mr Delahunty said.

“This also highlights the broader problem with the Victorian health system which recently failed 5 of its 9 own performance criteria.”

“On a positive note, once the ambulance officers attended their patients they provided excellent care – what they need is adequate resources and competent management.  The Auditor-General’s report has highlighted the poor state of the ambulance service and this tired Brumby Government is scrambling in an attempt to improve the plight of ambulance Victoria before next month’s election, despite knowing this crisis situation has existed for some time,” Mr Delahunty said.

The Nationals Member for Lowan, Hugh Delahunty has today slammed the Brumby Government, after news that there are to be more delays in the construction of the new Horsham Ambulance Station.

“In early 2007 I first raised in Parliament the concerns about the Horsham ambulance station which has extensive termite damage, limited female staff amenities, and only one room for training, storage and sleeping,” Mr Delahunty said.

“Ambulance staff also raised concerns, but during a Community Cabinet visit to Horsham in October 2008 no Government official would visit the station, which if privately owned I believe would be condemned by WorkSafe.

“Finally, in March 2009 the Minister for Health Daniel Andrews announced that funding had been granted for a new station in Horsham.

“My understanding is that a new ambulance station plan has been approved, land has been acquired, the Horsham Rural City Council has given planning approval, and everyone anticipated that the plans had gone to tender for construction.

“Now I am appalled to hear that the Minister’s office wants to re-visit the approved plans and make changes, which will cause more lengthy delays,” he said.

With increasing media reports on a crisis in ambulance services state-wide it is vital that this upgrade goes ahead as soon as possible.

“Make no mistake, western Victorians have a high regard for the tremendous work undertaken by our trained ambulance personnel but inadequate facility provisions within Ambulance Victoria for rural emergencies is of major concern,’ he said.

“Country Victorians deserve better facilities and services; metropolitan people would not tolerate this, and neither will we.

The Nationals Member for Lowan Hugh Delahunty today applauded the Liberal Nationals announcement that if it wins the November election it will provide a new Single Responder Unit (SRU) to Horsham as well as nine MICA SRUs in other parts of regional Victoria.

“The Single Responder Unit allows a single officer, a MICA-trained officer, to reach an incident quickly and effectively and work with the regular ambulance service,” Mr Delahunty said.

“There would also be SRU stationed in Warrnambool which would also be a boost and compliment the Rescue Helicopter that was finally stationed in western Victoria after a long fight by local residents.”

The SRUs will deliver MICA care through a 24-hour roster providing life-saving specialist-trained paramedics, significantly boosting ambulatory care in western Victoria.

“This is great news for residents living in western Victoria and visitors to our region as they will now have highly-trained paramedics available to provide much needed care during an emergency,” Mr Delahunty said.

“The Coalition’s plan also provides for 310 new ambulance paramedics, 210 of which will be based in country Victoria and an additional 30 patient transport officers allocated to country Victoria.”

Mr Delahunty said that on many occasions in Parliament he had raised concerns about western Victorian ambulance services, especially in Horsham where there is only one ambulance crew overnight which services the Western Highway from Ballarat to the South Australian border.

“I am pleased the Coalition commitment will provide the MICA units which are so urgently needed to service the people of western Victoria.”