Thursday, 24 March 2022

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority

Ms BATH (Eastern Victoria) (11:59): My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. Last August Stephen Ruff phoned 000 at the direction of his GP because he was experiencing excruciating abdominal pain. ESTA dispatched paramedics; however, halfway through assessing him they were told by ESTA to leave him for another call. In significant distress, Stephen’s wife drove him to the hospital, where he spent the next seven days. Minister, why are seriously ill Victorians like Stephen being told to drive themselves to hospital if the system is up to standard, as you claim?

Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:00): I thank Ms Bath for her question about her constituent’s experience in August. Ms Bath, as you have articulated to the house, when you call 000 for an ambulance the dispatch decision is made by a qualified ambulance dispatcher. They are in a separate team to call takers. Call takers answer the call and get the basic information and form a view as to whether they can deal with the call, or if it needs an ambulance it goes to the appropriate triaging situation, and they are then responsible for dispatch because they know where ambulances are and when they can get to people. It is really important to make sure that category 1 cases are dealt with with lights and sirens and given priority, but if a more pressing case becomes available then that, as I understand it, is when resources can be diverted to the most appropriate and highest need incidents. So the advice that was given to your constituent was from those that are best placed to make those decisions; that sounds like what happened in this case. It would not be for me to provide you with a clinical response, because I am not trained. The people who deal with the people who call 000, who answer the calls and who make the decisions about dispatching ambulances are qualified to make those comments, not me. As you would appreciate, everyone that calls 000 does not always need an ambulance. In the instance that you have described it would have come down to them making a clinical decision. I am glad to hear that he got to hospital and has recovered.

Ms BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:02): I thank the minister for her response. Five weeks after Stephen was released from hospital he experienced serious chest pains. Because the paramedics that were called to attend his earlier incident had educated him on your policy about when to dial 000, his wife hesitated to phone for an ambulance. Instead she drove him to hospital to discover he was having a life-threatening heart attack. The lack of clarity and confusion around your policy, Minister, nearly cost Stephen his life. Why do you continue to tell people like Stephen that Victoria’s emergency response system is one they can rely on when your policy is endangering their lives?

Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:03): That is a complete misconstruction of anything I have ever said. If you are in need of an ambulance, call 000—absolutely. It is outrageous to suggest otherwise.

Members interjecting.

Ms SYMES: No. If you need an ambulance, call 000. I cannot be any clearer than this. It is just an outrageous misconstruction of anything I have ever said.