By Oliver Lees
Ambulance services are under the pump in Sunbury, according to data released by Ambulance Victoria last week.
From April 1, 2021, to June 31, 2021, the average response time for code one ambulance call-outs, which includes all life-threatening incidents, was 15 minutes and 48 seconds across 555 incidents.
This is an increase of more than four minutes from the same period last year, when the average response time for code one call-outs in Sunbury was 10 minutes and 53 seconds.
The data indicates that 61.8 per cent of code one call-outs in Sunbury were responded to in less than 15 minutes from April 1 to June 31 of this year, which is below Ambulance Victoria’s aim of responding to 85 per cent of code one incidents in 15 minutes or less.
Across the state, 73 per cent of code one emergencies recorded between April 1 and June 31 this year were responded to in less than 15 minutes.
Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said high demand was putting considerable strain on the state’s ambulance workers.
“There were 84,441 code one cases in this quarter compared to 66,906 in the same quarter the previous year,” Mr Hill said.
“That increased workload is having a massive effect on our members and a lot are hitting burnout.
“Paramedics and ambulance workers are exhausted. There is no downtime, they are regularly missing meal breaks and are working dangerous amounts of incidental overtime.”
Mr Hill said that sick leave among ambulance staff was at an all-time high.
“They [ambulances] are not a taxi service,” he said.
“When people call for non-urgent problems, it can lead to crews not being available to respond to patients who really need paramedics help.”
