Premier Daniel Andrews has pledged to end Victoria’s ambulance crisis with a $100 million plan to reduce response times, resolve the pay dispute, upgrade facilities and treat paramedics with respect.
The day after the election, the Premier tweeted "I couldn't be prouder that my first act of office is declaring an end to the war on paramedics " and announcing that the paramedics' pay dispute was heading to the independent umpire.
The State Government will establish a $60 million Response Time Rescue Fund to support initiatives that free up ambulances for the state’s sickest patients, including allowing paramedics to organise alternative transport and care for less urgent patients.
In a bid to find the more solutions, the Ambulance Performance and Policy Consultative Committee will give paramedics a real say, and hand down an interim report within the first 100 days of the new Government.
The State Government will also review call taking and dispatch procedures at the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority so ambulances can arrive sooner, and invest $20 million to upgrade ambulance stations, as well as $20 million to upgrade vehicles and equipment, with five new Complex Patient Ambulance Vehicles added to the fleet.
The full board of Ambulance Victoria resigned this month, paving the way for new leadership of the organisation to be recruited. Mr Andrews said the new leadership would lead to "powerful cultural change to make sure we start respecting our ambos again and ... bring about improvements in response-time performance".
Reviewed 09 August 2021