Questions without notice and ministers statements
Ambulance services
Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (12:03): My question is to the Minister for Ambulance Services. Nick from Hawthorn recently felt unwell while he was with friends and stepped outside for fresh air. Seconds later his friends found him passed out on the footpath, having hit his head on the asphalt. He sustained a concussion and significant bleeding from his head. When his concerned friend Joe called an ambulance they were told there was no ambulance available in the area and that it would be over 2 hours before overworked paramedics would be able to arrive. Can the minister explain to Nick why under his government’s watch he was denied urgent basic care as he sat on the side of the road, dazed and bleeding from the scalp?
Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (12:04): Can I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Whilst I am not familiar with the particular set of circumstances that the honourable member highlights in his question, nonetheless, should the patient concerned be acceptable to it and the honourable member forward me the details, I will of course work with Ambulance Victoria and presumably the dispatch system to inquire as to the specifics of that set of circumstances.
But what we do know is that, depending on when the particular incident that the honourable member refers to occurred, our entire health system has been under pressure from the global pandemic like at no other time in its history. We know that by courtesy of the fact that in 2019 our ambulance response times had reached record levels—ever on record—as a result of sound investment, cooperative workplace practices and engagement across the whole breadth of how ambulance systems relate to both ESTA and the 000 services and the emergency departments that they rely on.
Since then what we have had is a global pandemic that has seen circumstances change in how all parts of the ambulance and health systems have operated. But during that time this has been a government that has invested every step of the way under those extraordinary circumstances to support our paramedics and our ambulance service. We did not declare a war on those ambulance services; what we did was fund last year alone over 700 further paramedics. What we did indeed was further fund different systems and bring forward, again, just two months ago, a further $1.4 billion worth of investment in emergency department interfaces with emergency departments, ambulances and other areas in response to the fact that we have seen on average somewhere between 1400 and 1900 frontline healthcare service workers being furloughed every day this year. That reached a peak of 5000 people in late January out of our healthcare system, including our ambulance system, and that regrettably meant the kind of circumstances occurred far too often that the honourable member points to. But what you can do is you can choose to invest, you can choose to work, you can choose to put patients first or you can choose war with paramedics.
Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (12:07): Nick is one of many Victorians waiting unacceptable times for overworked ambulance staff to respond to them, with recent reports revealing that a further three Victorians have tragically died waiting for an ambulance, bringing this toll to over 15 Victorians in the past few months. How is it acceptable that 15 Victorians can lose their life because the minister has waited years to fix this problem?
Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (12:08): Can I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. With the greatest of respect to the Leader of the Opposition, he conflates a number of matters incorrectly in his proposition there. I did see those media reports today. My understanding of those reports was that the three incidents referred to—all of which are unacceptable, and we send our deep and sincere sympathies and support to those families that were put through that trauma—related to the kind of challenges of the 000 emergency services system, if the reports are correct, not so much the response from the ambulance services and paramedics themselves. That was my reading of the media report. But if the Leader of the Opposition has anything further, I am sure he can provide that to me and the house.