Broadford paramedics will soon have the safe and modern home base they need to respond faster and save lives with the first sod turned on the town’s first ever ambulance branch.
Minister for Ambulance Services Jill Hennessy today turned the first sod to mark the start of works for the state-of-the-art ambulance branch on Hamilton Street in Broadford.
The spacious and cutting edge new branch features a functional four-bay garage for vehicles and modern facilities for paramedics including lounge areas, a kitchen, training room, amenities and improved security and staff car parking.
There is also plenty of space for the ambulance service to grow into the future.
The new branch will provide a 12-hour emergency service based in the Broadford community for the first time. Currently paramedics from Kilmore, Yea and Seymour are required to respond to emergency cases in Broadford.
With a modern home base located in the heart of the town, response times will continue to improve and more lives will be saved as Broadford patients get the emergency care they need, sooner.
Under the Liberals, Victoria’s ambulance system was plunged into crisis, as their war with paramedics led to the worst response times on the Australian mainland. The Labor Government has fixed the Liberals’ mess and is delivering the largest ever funding boost for Victoria’s ambulance services.
Our $500 million plan to cut response times is employing 450 more paramedics, building more stations and buying new vehicles across the state.
Thanks to our reforms of the system and record investment, 83.8 per cent of all Code One urgent ambulances are arriving within 15 minutes – the best quarterly result in Ambulance Victoria’s history.
In the Mitchell Shire, 66.9 per cent of ambulances are now arriving within 15 minutes for Code One emergencies, up from 57.7 per cent a year earlier, while the average time for an ambulance to reach the scene of a Code One has improved from 15.39 minutes to 13.36 minutes.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Ambulance Services Jill Hennessy
“We are putting Broadford families first and getting on with building the town’s first ever ambulance branch so paramedics the modern home base they need to do what they do best – saving lives.”
“Labor is getting is getting it done and investing more than any Government in Victoria’s history to improve ambulance response times, here in Broadford and across the state.”
Quote attributable to Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes
“Broadford families can soon rest assured that when an emergency strikes, life-saving paramedics are literally just around the corner.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020