Thursday, 7 April 2022

Ambulance services

Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): My question is to the Minister for Health. Nadia from Clyde North has an 18-month-old son, who on 19 March had breathing difficulties. She followed the advice of the government and at first contacted Nurse-on-Call. Their advice was to take him to the Casey Hospital. On arrival the wait time was extensive. Nadia was sent home to monitor her son. A short time later he deteriorated, and she called 000. The operator said her son was not turning blue so they had to end the call and take others, telling her someone would contact them back. On the return call Nadia was told there were simply no ambulances available, and they offered to call a taxi for her. Can the minister explain how we have come to this in Victoria, where the government cannot provide ambulances for a child suffering serious breathing difficulties and instead the other option given up is a taxi?

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:21): Can I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I am not familiar with the particular circumstances of the case that he refers to, and of course should he provide the details of that to me and my department I am sure we would follow up the particular arrangements of that case and engage as we always do with those people who have challenging circumstances with our healthcare services and the particular issues relating to how their circumstances have transpired.

But I can comment on the broader issue around how this is a government that is working with and partnering with and funding to record levels those very services that the honourable Leader of the Opposition has drawn attention to. When it comes to the issues around the triaging of any set of circumstances that comes before our emergency services, these decisions are made by trained professionals and clinicians with background in that regard. In regard to the particular circumstances of how people are transferred to support services they are seeking, that is again a decision made based on the operational circumstances that people find at hand and the available fleet that might be around. In regard to the particular circumstances of how people get to those services, those arrangements are always made on clinical decisions. Those arrangements are made in the best of faith by those professionals, and I back them in 100 per cent.

In terms of the specific circumstances that the honourable Leader of the Opposition raises, like I indicated, I am more than happy to follow those up, but what we have seen is a long history of how people have been transported in various different ways to services for many, many years now. Those decisions—whether people are encouraged to get there under their own steam if they are ambulatory or if they can get there through other arrangements through family or friends or if they can get there through other vehicular means or if they require a lights-and-sirens ambulance—across the range of options there is nothing new in those arrangements. What we want to make sure of is that under these unprecedented circumstances of unprecedented levels of demand, those appropriate triaging decisions are made by the clinical professionals that this side of the house backs and that this side of the house is funding in record levels. I undertake, as I did at the start, should the Leader of the Opposition wish to forward me those details, to make sure that Ambulance Victoria engage with that particular patient.

Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): Nadia arrived at the Casey Hospital by car with her son, where they were triaged and admitted. Her son continued to deteriorate, and he turned grey due to lack of oxygen. He was placed on oxygen and required feeding tubes and other treatment due to those initial delays. I ask the minister: how many more Victorian children’s lives will be placed at risk until the minister finally acknowledges that the health system is facing a crisis?

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:25): Can I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his supplementary question. I would refer the honourable member to multiple questions that I have answered and multiple statements that I have made in this and other forums where we have acknowledged there is a crisis. There is a crisis called a global pandemic. There is a crisis called a one-in-100-year set of events that has placed unprecedented levels of demand on our services.

We have a choice in this place. We have a choice in our public comments. We have a choice in how we go about choosing either to back those professionals or to demonise them, run them down and attack them every step of the way. On this side of the house we make the choice that we will fund those services, we will rebuild those services and we will make sure that in the genuine crisis which is still playing out today, which is seeing on average 2000 people furloughed out of that system every day of the week, we will work with that service and rebuild it to the standards that we saw pre pandemic.