Round the clock ambo care

By CASEY NEILL
BELGRAVE Ambulance Station now has six new paramedics and is staffed around the clock.
Eastern Victoria Region MP Edward O’Donohue and Gembrook MP Brad Battin announced the boost last week.
“The upgrade to a 24-hour manned station will help to reduce ambulance response times in the area, giving local residents access to constant ambulance care,” Mr O’Donohue said.
Mr Battin said the move delivered on the State Government’s election commitment to deliver 310 extra paramedics and 30 patient transfer officers over five years.
He said Belgrave residents would now have “greater peace of mind that an ambulance will be close by in the event of an emergency, whatever time of the day or night”.
The government also pledged six new staff for Emerald to make it a 24-hour station during the election race.
Ambulance Employees Association secretary Steve McGhie said the 24-hour roster move was a good idea.
“Rostered paramedics tend to have better response times than those on call,” he said.
“That’s because they’re on shift at the station.”
In March 2010 the Mail reported that Emerald residents faced the longest wait for an ambulance in the state between November 2007 and October 2009.
Response times in the area averaged 17.4 minutes – almost eight minutes more than Victoria’s other worst times. Belgrave residents had an average wait of just over 12 minutes.
State Government targets are to attend 90 per cent of metropolitan-area callouts within 15 minutes.