By NATALIE GALLENTI-BREKALO
MELTON MP Don Nardella is calling on the State Government to make drastic improvements to Victoria’s ailing ambulance service.
Mr Nardella last week claimed ambulances were “taking too long to arrive, patients are crammed into hospital corridors and people’s lives are in danger”.
His claims came only days after the Australian Medical Association’s Public Hospital Report Card 2014 was released.
Its figures show Victorian hospitals failed in all the performance targets set under the National Health Reform Agreement including improvement in emergency department waiting times and improvement in elective surgery waiting times.
Mr Nardella said the AMA report demonstrated that Victoria’s hospitals are in crisis.
“Victoria used to lead the way, but now we’re the only state to fail on every measure,” Mr Nardella said.
“While hospitals do not have the capacity to meet demand, they will struggle to meet performance targets.
“Insufficient capacity to meet demand means patient safety and quality care are at risk.”
Since October 2012, there have been three deaths in Melton where patients have waited longer than 15 minutes for an ambulance.
Lilliana Mizzi, 78, waited four hours for an ambulance after having a stroke. Brodie Wilson, 18, waited 27 minutes for paramedics to come from Sunbury after having an asthmatic attack. And Matthew Gibbs, 23, waited 16 minutes after having a cardiac arrest at a Melton recreation centre on 8 October.
The most recent figures show the average waiting time for life-threatening cases in Melton is 14.13 minutes.
Hillside’s average waiting time of 15.38 minutes is well above the state benchmark of 15 minutes for ‘‘code one’’ cases.
