CALLS have been made for an investigation after a bashing victim with a fractured eye socket and nose waited nearly two hours for an ambulance at Altona North.
Ambulance Victoria has come under fire for refusing to say how long the patient waited and for stating in its official response the victim was intoxicated.
About 10.30pm on February 17, Altona North police called an ambulance for a 25-year-old man who had been assaulted at a music festival.
After waiting 105 minutes, officers reportedly were so frustrated they considered driving the victim to Footscray’s Western Hospital in their police vehicle.
Under state guidelines, an ambulance should arrive within 25 minutes for a code 2 emergency.
Ambulance Employees Australia state secretary Steve McGhie said: “It’s just not good enough for someone with facial fractures — and, in particular, after a request from the police — that he had to wait an hour and three quarters before an ambulance arrives.
“Clearly in a situation like this there weren’t enough available ambulances to do the job and, firstly, we’ve got to find out the reasons why there weren’t enough available ambulances.
“They either didn’t have the ambulances staffed and didn’t have enough, or they were busy on other jobs or they were ramped up at hospitals. But I’d hazard a guess it’s a combination of all those.”
Ambulance Victoria group manager Tony Elliott would not confirm how long the patient waited or the reasons for the delay.
“Ambulance Victoria was requested to attend a conference venue in Altona for a man who had been assaulted and was intoxicated,” he wrote in a statement.
“At that time there were a number of cases in the area.
“When someone calls us for help, we’d like to be able to send an ambulance immediately. Sometimes this just isn’t possible and we understand that it can be concerning for those waiting.
“We send the closest ambulances to the sickest patients first.”
Asked repeatedly to confirm how long the Altona North patient waited, an Ambulance Victoria spokesman said: “All the information I’ve given you is all the information I can give you.”
Opposition health spokesman and Williamstown MP Wade Noonan said it was “extraordinary” that Ambulance Victoria would not provide the community with basic information.
“We will be seeking an investigation into what led to this extraordinarily inadequate ambulance response, with the Minister for Health, David Davis. Is it now Ambulance Victoria’s policy that they will prioritise cases based on whether or not someone appears to be intoxicated or is intoxicated?
“Their responsibility is to provide a response to people based on the their condition of health. It’s not based on whether they’ve been drinking or not.”
Mr Davis’s spokeswoman, Kathryn McFarlane, said the government was “committed to providing the best possible ambulance services to all Victorians and that is why we are investing $151 million in Ambulance Victoria”.
