New MICA ‘operating model’ being considered amid fears the system is dangerous and badly organised
Sources within the elite service say lives are being put at risk and parts of the state are regularly left with no coverage for more serious cases, reports Melbourne media legend Neil Mitchell.
Victoria
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Victoria’s elite MICA ambulance service is under review as sources claim it is in crisis with lives put at risk and parts of the state regularly left with no coverage for more serious cases.
Sources within the system say it is dangerous and badly organised, and lives are already being lost that need not be lost.
Ambulance Victoria has confirmed a new “operating model” for MICA is being considered, and some sources say plans are on the table to cut it back further in regional areas.
The Mornington Peninsula, which has 200,000 residents, is one part of the state regularly left with no MICA service at all. And there are others.
Several sources described the system as frustrating, chaotic and badly used.
They say there is no strategic plan for how to develop the service and better deploy the highly trained MICA staff.
MICA crews carry specialist drugs, and are regularly used for heart attacks, strokes and serious road crashes.
Those in Victoria are recognised as being among the world’s best.
It was the first such service established in Australia, more than 50 years ago.
But the sources say morale is low and burnout more common because although they are trained to do the very serious cases, often they are sent to comparatively minor incidents to fill gaps in the stretched system.
A new roster system, introduced in December, has been “disastrous”, the sources say.
There has also been a list of recommendations drafted by a four-member committee that suggests removing single-responder MICA units from many regional areas.
These are cars with one highly trained paramedic.
They carry the equipment needed to deal with the most serious collapse cases and crashes.
Their aim is to provide quick lifesaving treatment while waiting for the traditional ambulance.
Areas that could lose this service include Swan Hill, Bairnsdale, Sale, Wonthaggi, Warrnambool, Shepparton, Wodonga and Wangaratta.
Other areas affected, but keeping a two-member crew would include Bendigo – Premier Jacinta Allan’s hometown – Morwell, Horsham and Ballarat.
A PowerPoint presentation has been prepared for the Ambulance Victoria safety committee and those who have seen it say it made no suggestion of putting in supplementary crews if single responders were removed.
When asked about the claims, the secretary of the Victorian Ambulance Union, Danny Hill, said he had “heard rumours” about the single responders.
He also said there was no doubt MICA faced a crisis and the system was “absolutely dangerous”.
“These people are committed. They want to do the serious work,” Mr Hill said.
“But they are used as clock stoppers, sent to attend minor cases when the normal ALS ambulance is not available because of shortages.
“It is like the police having a highly trained SWAT team who can’t attend a siege because they are out directing traffic.
“Regularly across the state MICA is not available for the sickest patients. Absolutely, that is dangerous.”
Several other sources said it would be “lunacy” to cut back single responders when often they were the only MICA available for large areas.
Something of a review is under way by Ambulance Victoria after an experienced single responder MICA took his own life last year.
But so far sources say it is only aggravating the problem.
“If they want to support us, that’s great. But don’t cut the resources, give us the support we need,” the source said.
Another said Ambulance Victoria’ s overtime budget was about $95m a year, and some claimed extra shifts were being dumped because it could not afford to pay.
The state government has said it will grow the MICA service but the most recent annual report says numbers have gone backwards, to 581.
A statement from Ambulance Victoria’s director of clinical operations, Anthony Carlyon, confirmed a new operating model for MICA was being considered but despite a direct question gave no reply on dropping some single responders.
The statement said paramedics continued to deliver clinical outcomes at the highest levels.
It said basic paramedics were highly trained as well as MICAs and confirmed rosters had been changed recently.
However, on the road, one key source summed it up this way:
“Things have to be really bad for me to do this and talk to you. But people’s lives are being put at risk.
“That is not on.”
Neil Mitchell is a 3AW news analyst, His Nine podcast “Neil Mitchell Asks Why” is available weekly.
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