by NOEL MURPHY
AMBULANCE response times across Geelong have slumped to an “appalling’” level with delays of almost half an hour for life-threatening cases.
New figures show waits of 29 minutes in Geelong for code-one cases, and delays of 25 minutes in Belmont, 23 minutes in Norlane and 27 minutes at Lara.
The times, obtain by the State Opposition under freedom of information, showed a 23-minute wait for MICA services in Geelong.
The delay figures made up 90 per cent of ambulance cases across the Geelong region, the statistical standard the ambulance union deems properly reflective of times – as opposed to average, or 50th percentile, figures released recently by the State Government.
“The benchmark used to be 11 minutes, which was blown out to 15 minutes, but reduced to the 70th percentile,” ambulance paramedic Tony Murrell told the Independent.
Mr Murrell, Belmont delegate for the Ambulance Employees Association of Victoria, accused the State Government of “fudging figures” by moving the benchmarks.
He explained that code-one calls involved patients face immediate life-threatening circumstances – “things that will kill patients in a very short time if there’s not immediate intervention”.
“If code one takes 23 minutes to attend, you think of someone in a life-threatening condition waiting for an ambulance,” he said.
“It could be someone having massive stroke, a cardiac arrest, a high-speed motor crash, and we’re not talking about out on a country road, we’re talking about the middle of Geelong.”
“If it’s a cardiac arrest or a stroke where every minute brain starves the brain of oxygen, irreparable damage being done the longer they’re waiting for treatment,” Mr Murrell said.
“These are appalling figures. When I started this job 10 years ago, 13 minutes was the response times. To put it all in another perspective, the London ambulance service works on eight minutes.”
Opposition parliamentary secretary for health Wade Noonan slammed the latest figures, accusing the Government of “cherry-picking response time data in order to mislead the public”.
“More and more people are being left dangerously exposed while they wait longer for medical care,” Mr Noonan said.
A spokesman for Health Minister David Davis said the 50th percentile figures showed the average time it took for ambulances to respond to call-outs.
