Crews respond to ‘crisis’

By Melissa Donchi
PARAMEDICS fear Upper Yarra emergency ambulance services are being stretched too far, potentially delaying the response times to life threatening emergencies.
In the past week, two local paramedics from two different areas have contacted the Mail to detail their frustration.
A Yarra Valley ambulance paramedic said it was important for people to know when it was appropriate to call an ambulance.
“Recently, paramedics have attended a number of cases in the Yarra Junction area where they have been called as an alternative for an after hours medical service,” the paramedic said.
“Yarra Junction Ambulance covers a huge area geographically from Cumberland Junction in the east, East Seville in the west, Yellingbo in the south, and supports the Healesville area in the north.
“Unfortunately, Yarra Junction only has one emergency ambulance available to respond to emergencies.
“Non acute calls can delay the response of an ambulance to a life threatening emergency.”
Another source within the Metropolitan Ambulance Service, who also wished to remain anonymous, said a lack of resources and a dispatch system which is designed to meet response times rather than medical needs were driving ambulance paramedics into chaos.
“We are solely being driven by response times which means a lot of experienced paramedics are responding to calls to ‘stop the clock’ (meet response times).
“This means the most experienced ambulance crews, including ICU, are attending jobs that don’t require their expertise.
“There is only one designated intensive care ambulance in Ringwood which covers the areas of Monbulk, Warburton, Healesville, Yarra Glen and over towards Warrandyte and Mitcham.
“It is easily one of the busiest ambulance stations in Melbourne partly because anyone can get an ambulance for anything,” the source said.
“There is an extremely low morale among paramedics at the moment because of this ongoing situation.”
Ambulance Employees Australia will release a damning report this week on the state of the emergency ambulance services.
The report, Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance: A Service in Crisis, is based on a satisfaction survey sent out to MICA officers late last year and will highlight issues paramedics say are affecting their morale.
Among their claims, it is alleged that a significant lack of resources, an unrealistic dispatch system and welfare concerns for staff are to blame for the crisis.
Industrial officer at Ambulance Employees Australia Brenda Forbath says the organisation has been aware of the low morale among MICA officers for some time.
“We had been hearing these concerns around and decided to do a survey to see just how serious they were,” Ms Forbath said.
The survey received a strong interest from employees with 121 responses from a possible 234 MICA officers.
“We’ve had a good return rate and the responses have been revealing. We are about to send it out and we look forward to hearing from the health minister,” Ms Forbath said.
A government spokesperson said: “The ambulance dispatch system – which uses the latest technology – is an efficient system that has been tried and tested.
“However, we will always welcome information from individuals or ambulance paramedics where they think the system can improve.”, which is why we regularly consult with them.