Wyndham paramedics are keeping records of ambulance response times after battling to treat patients on time during the heatwave earlier this month.
On January 16, a man endured a lengthy wait for treatment after falling off his motorcycle and breaking his leg in Hoppers Crossing.
With all the municipality’s crews on other jobs, a lone paramedic was sent to treat the man, who had skin missing from his face and bone sticking through the skin of a leg.
Point Cook-Laverton paramedic Dave Hammond said that in another case, he was only able to reach an 86-year-old woman, who had fallen in her backyard in Altona North, within 20 minutes after requesting that a “do not divert” order be placed on his ambulance.
Mr Hammond said that while he was able to treat the woman’s fractured hip, it was unacceptable that an elderly woman had to wait in pain for almost 20 minutes. As reported by the
Weekly, paramedics claim average response times in Wyndham have blown out from 10 minutes two years ago to 19 minutes. The state government has refused to release details.
Mr Hammond said he had started keeping his own records of how long it took him to reach patients.
“The dispatch system is increasingly frustrating paramedics,’’ he said.
‘‘Patients who are given a lower code are often waiting for extended periods of time as ambulances are constantly being diverted to other, often less acute, cases. Crews from the local area are constantly being sent out of the area.”
Ambulance Victoria has vowed to make extra staff and ambulances available by April for periods of peak demand in Werribee.
