Incorporating
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
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Page 2
ALPINE BOARD ANNOUNCED
Sport
DEBUTANTES: This year’s second crop of Mansfield debs: Back row (from left): Hunter Jackman, Ben Les, Charlie Payne, Dylan Lowry, Patrick Kelleher. Middle row (from left): Penelope Casey, Ty Sheeran, Charlie Hall, Archie Storer, Brooke Kipping, Tara Murray. Front row (from left): Chloe Judge, Mia Wadsworth, Brianna Anstee, Sarah Marshall and Grace Revell. Turn to page 13 for more photos. PHOTO: Sarah Maslan Photography
EAGLES SINK CLAWS INTO MOOROOPNA
Ambos buck trend Local p paramedic data shows huge g improvements p while the rest of regional g Victoria struggles gg
DESPITE ballooning ambulance times across regional Victoria, Mansfield has seen a huge improvement in responses following the long awaited new recruitment over the last 12 months. Pressure on ambulances across the North East continues to mount however, as demand for services smashed past records for the third consecutive quarter. Mansfield paramedics are also facing a recordbreaking year for Mt Buller visitors on their hands. Despite all this, the recent increase in paramedics to Mansfield has obviously paid off with data showing that local ambos attended
BY JARRAH LOH jloh@ nemedia.com.au
50 per cent of Code 1 patients within 15 minutes - that’s a huge improvement on last year’s 35.4 per cent over the same period. The reaction times remain on par though, with the average response time to Code 1 patients clocking in at 27 minutes and 01 second, a slight improvement from 27 minutes and 56 seconds the same time last year. While Mansfield has improved, the rest of region has struggled, especially evident in Indigo Shire,
where data has revealed almost four in five ambulance responses not meeting their targeted 15 minutes. In fact, average response times in Benalla, Wodonga and Strathbogie Shire have all swollen.
The region is set to benefit from an additional 50 paramedics in the coming months, however North East MP, and new shadow assistant minister for regional health and ambulance services Tim Mccurdy, said further urgent action was required to alleviate health pressures throughout the region. “The premier must stop building tunnels in Melbourne and start addressing the health crisis in North East Victoria,” he said. “Sending more paramedics is only the tip of the iceberg - all our medical staff have been working incredibly hard, however, we need
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more doctors, surgeons, physicians and dentists. “We are not a third world country but sometimes the government’s neglect makes it feel this way in regional Victoria.” North East MP Tania Maxwell backed his statements and said the government will have to work harder and smarter if it’s to fix worsening ambulance emergency response times across the state, though pointed to Mansfield’s success. “Paramedics are doing their absolute best to respond to these critical emergency calls,” she said. “So why are response times between March and
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June going backwards in 21 of 27 local government areas and getting better only in one - Mansfield?” Ambulance Victoria Hume regional director Narelle Capp said they are working hard to relieve pressure in the system with more paramedics on the road and more Ambulance Victoria Offload teams to rapidly transfer patients to hospital care. “A record 700 paramedics were recruited in 2021 and a further 404 paramedics have already been recruited this year to help get more ambulances on the road, including 50 in the Hume Region.”
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