THE state government claims ambulance response times in the
northern suburbs are excellent, despite musician Bill Putt dying of a
heart attack after an ambulance took half an hour to arrive at his home.
The wait failed the 15-minute response time benchmark for critical
code-one cases, but the government claimed Ambulance Victoria was
performing well in other cases.
Government figures show response times in more than half the
code-one cases in the cities of Whittlesea and Hume in the three months
to the end of March are better than the 15-minute benchmark.
But the response times fail another significant criterion, which
stipulates that code-one cases must not only meet the 15-minute response
time but also meet it in 90 per cent of cases.
The government released the response time figures for the first
quarter of 2013 after Spectrum bass player Bill Putt, 66, died at his
home in Strathewen on August 7 after suffering a heart attack around
midday.
He died after an ambulance took 30 minutes to arrive from the
Whittlesea ambulance station because the ambulance from the closest
station, Kinglake, was already on a call, according to reports. An
Ambulance Employees Association spokesman claims the Kinglake station
response time has blown out to 33.38 minutes under the Coalition
government.
But Health Minister David Davis said there had been an increase in
the number of paramedics in the northern suburbs, enabling Ambulance
Victoria to respond quickly.
He released figures showing that in the three months to the end of March, response times bettered the benchmark, including:
Epping responding to more than half its 450 code-one calls in 11.41 minutes.
South Morang responding to more than half its 226 code-one calls in 11.06 minutes.
Thomastown responding to more than half its 442 code-one calls in 11.43 minutes.
Whittlesea responding to more than half its 247 code-one calls in 13.31 minutes.
Craigieburn responding to more than half its 383 code-one calls in 11.20 minutes.
Broadmeadows responding to more than half its 470 code-one calls in 10.57 minutes.
Tullamarine responding to more than half its 198 code-one calls in 10.47 minutes.
