Under-pressure emergency services boss quits amid ambulance crisis

The head of Victoria’s triple-zero call service has resigned after repeated reports of long and life-threatening waits for ambulances as the state experiences a surge in coronavirus cases.

Two weeks after the state government announced a performance review into the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) – and with health officials bracing for an increase in COVID-19 infections as Melbourne’s lockdown ends – the organisation’s chief executive, Marty Smyth, announced his resignation on Thursday.

Marty Smyth with then emergency services minister Lisa Neville at an award ceremony in 2019.Credit: Twitter

Mr Smyth declined to comment when contacted by The Age, but the agency put out a statement saying he had “indicated he now wishes to return to Queensland to pursue new opportunities”.

His departure follows months of difficulty at the authority, which runs Victoria’s call-taking dispatch system but has struggled to cope with the surge in demand from patients during the state’s Delta outbreak.

Tensions between the agency and the ambulance union deepened this month after it was revealed two people suffering cardiac arrest died after triple-zero calls went unanswered for five minutes in each case, and that emergency calls in other life-threatening circumstances had been left unanswered for up to 33 minutes – exceeding the required target time of five seconds.

This came after authorities investigated the case of a three-year-old girl who died from a cardiac arrest near Bendigo after the family’s triple-zero call was placed on hold for a minute and 41 seconds.

Ambulance union boss Danny Hill called for Mr Smyth’s sacking at the time, accusing the agency of being “asleep at the wheel” and of not doing enough to prepare for the surge.

But Mr Smyth rejected this, saying he had been lobbying the government for new staff and that ambulance calls only started rising exponentially in mid-August. By the end of last month, they climbed to levels that had not been seen in Melbourne since the 2016 thunderstorm asthma event.

As the war of words intensified, the state government appointed former police chief commissioner Graham Ashton to conduct a review of ESTA’s operations.

Former police assistant commissioner and current ESTA board member Stephen Leane will serve as interim chief executive until a replacement for Mr Smyth is found.

Former assistant commissioner Stephen Leane (front) with then chief commissioner Graham Ashton in 2018. Credit: Joe Armao

Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes said on Thursday: “I thank Mr Smyth for his work with ESTA and wish him all the best with what comes next. I’m pleased that someone of Mr Leane’s experience and expertise is about to take on the role of interim CEO. I know he will hit the ground running and will be making sure there’s continuity and support for staff as they continue their tireless work keeping Victorians safe in this challenging time.”

Mr Smyth’s departure comes at a critical time in Victoria, which on Thursday recorded 2232 new locally acquired cases of coronavirus and 12 additional deaths.

Demand for emergency care escalated to unseen levels after the state’s second wave of COVID-19 cases in 2020, causing far more callers than normal to be put on hold for longer than the five-second target time.

Heightened demand coincided with an upgrade of ESTA’s antiquated operating system late last year. The new program had teething problems and Mr Smyth had been under intense pressure from staff and unions because the system was experiencing regular outages during which operators resorted to pen and paper.

In May The Age reported that an investigation had been launched into a person’s death that coincided with an ESTA system outage.

Two ambulance workers’ unions and the Community Workers Union had complained for years that ESTA was understaffed and underfunded. Mr Smyth lobbied the state government for 43 new staff as part of the last state budget, but unions said this was too little too late.

ESTA chair Flavia Gobbo praised Mr Smyth’s contribution to the service.

“Mr Smyth has worked tirelessly over the past four years to lead ESTA, and his extensive contribution to delivering our strategic goals and supporting our hardworking staff is greatly appreciated,” Ms Gobbo said.

But Mr Hill said he was not surprised by Mr Smyth’s departure, and hoped the government would assist to bolster the agency’s resources.

“I don’t think ESTA have really done enough to put procedures in place to have safe minimum staffing levels just to deal with a normal workload, let alone something like the pandemic,” he said.

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