Victorian deputy premier weighs in on ‘deeply upsetting’ death of triple-0 caller

A Melbourne man died after waiting 25 minutes for paramedics to arrive, spending most of that time on hold while suffering severe chest pain.

Victorian deputy premier James Merlino has weighed in on the death of a Melbourne father whose desperate calls to triple-0 went unanswered for 15 minutes.

Paramedics arrived 25 minutes after Preston man Nick Panagiotopoulos first called for an ambulance while experiencing severe chest pains in October.

The father of three had been frantically on hold with the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) for an agonising 15 minutes.

Calls to the service are meant to be answered within five seconds.

Despite best efforts to save his life, paramedics were unable to keep Mr Panagiotopoulos alive.

The devastating story was revealed in The Age newspaper on Wednesday, highlighting serious flaws in the system.

Mr Merlino called the case “deeply upsetting” but maintained the government was working to fix the problems.

“There are no words that I can say to this family or any other family that have lost a loved one,” he told reporters.

“We do not want families to go through what this family has.”

Nick and his wife Belinda. Picture: Nine News.

On the day of Mr Panagiotopoulos’ death in October, neighbours and his family attempted to frantically dial through to triple-0.

The chief executive of ESTA reportedly resigned five days later, following complaints about the service for months.

Mr Panagiotopoulos’s death due to flaws in the system is the second this year in Victoria, occurring just six months after a 32-year-old Caulfield woman was found dead in her home more than six hours after calling an ambulance.

Complaints about unanswered calls have skyrocketed. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy slammed the Victorian government over the disastrous wait times.

Complaints about unanswered calls have skyrocketed amid triple-0 ambulance calls growing to an average of 3000 a day.

“Ambulance waiting times are some of the longest we’ve ever seen,” Mr Guy said.

“There’s no use putting in more and more and more money and getting worse and worse results.

“This comes down to the management of the system, the management of the state government.

“If they can’t get the health system right now, they’ll never get it right.”

Victorian Deputy Premier James Merlino said the government was putting as much money as it could into the issue. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Mr Melino confirmed the state government was funnelling money into the issue, telling reporters 43 extra ESTA staff had been hired.

He said there was also a review of the service being conducted by the former chief police commissioner.

“What’s important is what changes are we putting in place,” Mr Merlino said.

“There is significant additional funding to meet increasing demand. And there has been increasing demand.”