Victorian Government should be ‘ashamed’ deadly call-taking delays
Calls mount for Daniel Andrews to apologise after a damning report revealed 33 people died waiting for an ambulance in the past two years.
Victims of deadly delays to Victoria’s emergency call-taking service have called on Premier Daniel Andrews to take responsibility for the findings of a report that revealed at least 33 people died while waiting for an ambulance in the past two years.
David Edwards said on Sunday he was resolved to think about the good memories he had of his late father Alfred who died on his front lawn in January waiting 40 minutes for an ambulance.
“I normally give him a phone call and say happy Fathers Day. I could look at it in a bad way, but I’m choosing to look at it in a good way,” he said.
“My wife is pregnant (and) our little boy will be named after Dad. It’s a massive shame his grandfather won’t get to see him.”
Mr Edwards said he was disappointed to be alerted on Saturday about the release of the report into the state’s emergency call-taking service and was frustrated the Victorian Premier chose not to publicly apologise. “I hope Daniel Andrews and (Attorney-General) Jaclyn Symes are held responsible and accountable for what they have done. They should be ashamed of themselves,” he said. “If we had got an ambulance straight away … there is a very good chance Dad still would have been here.” Mr Edwards has appeared in an ad for the Victorian Liberal Party.
The state’s Inspector-General for Emergency Management Tony Pearce found in his report that the emergency services telecommunications authority did not have enough call-takers, meaning most triple-0 calls at the peak of Covid-19 in 2021 were not answered within the target of five seconds and at times took longer than 10 minutes.
One caller waited 76 minutes in January this year.
There were 40 “adverse events” linked with call-taker delays and or ambulance resourcing issues. “Tragically, 33 of those people did not survive their emergencies,” the report read.
Mr Pearce found ESTA’s funding structure meant additional staff could not be easily recruited to meet historically high demand on the system.
Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said he was disappointed the government chose not to listen to calls from the union during bargaining talks five years ago to agree on call-taking time “triggers” that would prompt the hiring of new recruits to meet demand. “I think we could have definitely reduced the severity of it by having a better funding arrangement in place prior to the pandemic.”
After Ms Symes on Saturday apologised to the families of the 33 people who died, the state’s deputy premier Jacinta Allan was asked on Sunday why Mr Andrews did not front the cameras to take responsibility as well. “The Premier has, on many occasions addressed matters to do with not just the challenges that ESTA has faced, indeed, our entire health care system has faced during a global pandemic,” she said.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the release of the report during AFL finals was a bid to avoid scrutiny.
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