Bendigo three-year-old girl dies as parents put on hold by 000
The health minister has defended emergency services after a three-year-old Bendigo girl died while her parents waited on 000.
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An investigation has been launched after a three-year-old girl from Bendigo died while her parents were on hold with emergency services for a minute and a half.
It is understood their child suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday night.
Health Minister Martin Foley confirmed the death of the Bendigo child at a media conference on Wednesday.
The wait time for the triple zero call fell short of the target time of five seconds, a metric that was almost always met before Covid.
“I take this opportunity to express our deepest condolences to that family and that community,” Mr Foley said.
“Any death is a tragedy, but the death of a young child from a major incident like that is really traumatic for everyone involved – the family the community and indeed the Ambulance Victoria workforce.”
Mr Foley said the issues at Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority were under active investigation, and he could not comment at this stage.
Mr Foley said the ALV ambulance and the paramedics classed the incident as a Code One priority and arrived at the scene within the time they were advised to get there.
“I want to thank them for their efforts,” he said.
“But sadly the young person passed away in their care.”
It comes as Melbourne hospitals experience significant ramping, with videos showing a dozen ambulances lined up and parked outside of the Northern Hospital on Tuesday, September 28.
Mr Foley said the government had invested in the ambulance and hospital responses throughout the pandemic
“What we have seen across all of the emergency response sectors is enormous demand – (and) not just Covid demand,” he said.
“Record levels of demand across the board.
“The system is under huge stress.
“Our frontline health workers are working like never before.
“We continue to work hard to build our surge capacity.”
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