By VANESSA VALENZUELA
PARAMEDICS are taking longer to arrive at life-threatening emergencies in Brimbank with critically ill patients forced to wait more than 12 minutes for help.
New figures reveal Code 1 ambulance response times between January and June this year have increased in Brimbank, Sunshine and St Albans compared to average response times in 2009-2010.
It now takes paramedics more than 12.41 minutes to reach emergency situations in Brimbank and 12.33 minutes in St Albans while Sunshine residents are forced to wait up to 13.22 minutes for an ambulance.
The average waiting times for ill or injured residents in Sunshine has jumped by 1.42 minutes compared to 10.40 minutes two years ago.
Wait times increased by 1.38 minutes for critically-ill patients in St Albans, compared to 10.55 minutes in 2009-10 and by 1.46 minutes for residents in Brimbank.
Average response times in Melton have jumped more than three minutes with patients waiting at least 13.47 minutes for an ambulance, while Hillside recorded one of the slowest response times in the West with patients waiting 15.28 minutes for help, exceeding the state-wide average.
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Mental Health Wade Noonan said the figures reveal that ambulances are taking longer to reach car accidents and heart-attack victims in need of life-saving assistance.
“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 Noonan said.
He said the number of ambulances arriving at the scene of a life-threatening emergency within the state-wide target of 15 minutes had dropped below 75 per cent.
Mr Noonan blamed the Baillieu Government’s $616 million health funding cuts for the blow-out in ambulance response times.
“Delays in patient handover processes at hospitals are taking ambulances off the road for longer than ever before,” he said.
“Ambulances with patients are being held up for hours outside emergency departments across Melbourne because hospitals are buckling under the pressure caused by the Baillieu Government budget cuts.”
