By XAVIER SMERDON
THE time it takes for an ambulance to respond to an incident in Werribee has increased by 18 per cent, recent figures released under Freedom of Information reveal.
Member for Tarneit Tim Pallas said ambulance response times had blown out to 12 minutes and 21 seconds on average, an increase of one minute and 56 seconds since last year.
In Hoppers Crossing the response time increased from 10 minutes 30 seconds to 12 minutes 21 seconds and in Point Cook from 11 minutes 40 seconds to 13 minutes 11 seconds.
“Before the last election, Mr Baillieu said Victorians deserve the highest quality ambulance services and have the right to expect timely responses during emergencies,” Mr Pallas said.
“But these documents show that the situation is getting worse, with people from Werribee waiting on average almost 2 minutes longer for an ambulance to arrive.
“In an emergency, such as a heart attack or car accident, seconds can be vital in saving lives.”
Mr Pallas said the Baillieu Government’s $616 million health funding cuts were responsible for the blow-out in ambulance response times.
Ambulance Victoria’s Group Manager 6, Metro West region, Tony Elliott, said that research showed that survival rates for cardiac arrests had improved since 2008.
“Response times can be affected by many factors including traffic, road and weather conditions, distance required to travel, demand for ambulance services, hospital transfer times and availability of crews. They are not the only measure of a quality ambulance service,” Mr Elliott said.
“We are continuing to increase the number of ambulances available and we are working closely with the Department of Health and hospitals to minimise our time required at hospitals with patients.”
