The pain of waiting

By Casey Neill
EMERALD residents faced the longest wait for an ambulance in the state, figures last week revealed.
Response times in the area averaged 17.4 minutes between November 2007 and October 2009 – almost eight minutes more than Victoria’s other top times.
Belgrave residents had an average wait of just over 12 minutes, and response times averaged 11.4 minutes in the Montrose area.
But Ambulance Victoria regional services general manager Tony Walker said response time data showed ongoing improvement in Emerald.
“In November 2007 response times in Emerald were over 19 minutes and by October last year that was down to just over 16 minutes,” he said.
Mr Walker said the improvement was due to extra ambulances in surrounding suburbs.
“If you look at the Emerald response time and compare that to a city suburb, naturally it is longer,” he said.
“But the situation in Emerald is very different in so many ways from that of a city suburb.”
“Houses are further apart, lifestyle is very different, access can be difficult, ambulances have further to travel and it is also further away to the next closest ambulance if the local ambulance is busy.”
Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato said she was aware of the demand for ambulance services in the Emerald area and had been lobbying the Health Minister for improvements.
“In the meantime, the extra funding into the surrounding ambulance stations at Beaconsfield, Berwick, Pakenham and Yarra Junction, which has meant additional paramedics servicing those areas, is certainly assisting in meeting demand in Emerald,” she said.
A State Government spokesman said the government had invested a record $186 million in ambulance services.
“The biggest boost in the state’s history – to hire hundreds more paramedics, open or rebuild dozens of new stations across the suburbs and country towns, and buy two new air ambulance choppers,” he said.