Ambulance Victoria


Ambulance Victoria Mercedes paramedic at St Kilda Junction, 2013
Agency overview
Formed 1 July 2008
Jurisdiction Victorian Government
Employees 4,000+
Agency executive
  • Tony Walker ASM, Chief Executive Officer [1]
Parent agency Department of Health and Human Services
Website www.ambulance.vic.gov.au

Since 1 July 2008 emergency ambulance services in Victoria have been provided by a single provider known as Ambulance Victoria. It was formed from the three previous providers of emergency ambulance services: the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS), Rural Ambulance Victoria (RAV), and the Alexandra District Ambulance Service (ADAS).[2]

Ambulance Victoria provides emergency medical response to more than 6 million people in an area of more than 227,000 square kilometres.

AV’s Charter requires the service to:

• respond rapidly to requests for help in a medical emergency

• provide specialised medical skills to maintain life and reduce injuries in emergency situations and while transporting patients

• provide specialised transport facilities to move people requiring emergency medical treatment

• provide services for which specialised medical or transport skills are necessary

• foster public education in first aid.[3]

Ambulance Victoria has undergone significant reform since 2008.

The organisation was engaged in a prolonged wage negotiation with the Ambulance Employees Australia - Victoria union, that was resolved in September 2009. Ambulance Victoria also become a political topic for the November 2010 state election with both sides of parliament offering large increases in numbers of paramedics and additional services.[4][5]

Negotiations for a new EBA stalled in 2013 and 2014. In the lead up to the 2014 election, then Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews announced that, if elected, he would end the dispute and refer the matter to the Fair Work Commission for a Wage Value determination.[6]

The Fair Work Commission heard that work of paramedics and educational requirements had changed significantly changed over the previous decade. In March 2016, the Commission recommended that paramedic wages be increased.[7]

History

Formal ambulance services began in Victoria since 1883. Over the years services were provided by St John Ambulance, Civil Ambulance Service and a multitude of local area ambulance services. In the 1980s the Metropolitan Ambulance Service was formed from a number of smaller area services and 16 regional services were amalgamated into five. In 1997 this was then consolidated down to one rural service, Rural Ambulance Victoria.

In April 2008 Premier John Brumby and Health Minister Daniel Andrews announced a record funding boost of over $185m, including two new helicopter services, 26 new ambulance stations and over 300 new paramedics. In addition to this, it was also announced that the very way the state's ambulance services work was proposed to be changed with Metropolitan Ambulance Service and Rural Ambulance Victoria becoming one organisation, Ambulance Victoria. On 26 May this decision was confirmed, with one service commencing operation on 1 July, 2008.

Operations

Ambulance Victoria has over 3,438 operational paramedics located at more than 240[3] ambulance stations across Victoria.[8]

In 2015/16 Ambulance Victoria responded to 843,051 emergency and non-emergency cases including 172,960 emergency road incidents in the five rural regions, 416,887 emergency road incidents in the two metropolitan regions and 4,556 emergency air incidents (2,033 by helicopter and 2,523 by plane).[3]

Ambulance Victoria regularly publishes its performance data, including response times.[9]

Communications

Ambulance Victoria's emergency and non-emergency patient transport communications are handled by Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) communication centres in East Burwood and Ballarat.

Ambulance communications functions include 000 Emergency call-taking, non-emergency patient transport requests, and ambulance dispatch for emergency and non-emergency vehicles. Modern emergency services communications is highly advanced, and communications staff use a wide range of technologies including digital and analogue radio, telephones, pagers, and advanced computer and GPS systems. Many emergency services vehicles, including ambulances, are fitted with mobile data terminals that enable them to view information, read messages sent by call-takers and dispatchers, and be notified of updates immediately as they become available. A number of communication services used by Ambulance Victoria, such as digital radio and mobile data terminals, are not available outside metropolitan Melbourne.

Vehicles

Response buggy used at major events.

Currently Ambulance Victoria operates

Air Ambulance Victoria

One of four AW 139's operated by Ambulance Victoria[10]
Dauphin helicopter based at Essenson
Ambulance Victoria Beechcraft B200C King Air, operated by Pel-Air, at Wangaratta Airport

Air Ambulance Victoria is based at Essendon Airport with helicopters based in the major rural centres.

Helicopters

Air Ambulance Victoria helicopters [11] designated HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) currently operate throughout the state.
HEMS 1 is a Eurocopter Dauphin twin engine helicopter shared by AAV and the Victoria Police Air Wing based at Essendon.
HEMS 2 is a AgustaWestland AW139 based in the La Trobe Valley.
HEMS 3 is a AgustaWestland AW139 based in Bendigo.
HEMS 4 is a AgustaWestland AW139 based in Warnambool
HEMS 5 is a AgustaWestland AW139 for primary response and specialist medical retrieval based at Melbourne's Essendon airport.

Fixed-wing aircraft

The Ambulance Service Air Wing operates four Beechcraft B200 King Airs from its Essendon headquarters and can reach most of Victoria within an hour. They are used mainly for transporting patients from rural towns to the major hospitals in Melbourne and can carry two stretcher patients and two walking patients. This service includes bringing people to Melbourne for regular treatments such as oncology and dialysis while also facilitating acute medical conditions requiring surgery or the transfer of injured patients from rural hospitals to specialist care. The service now reaches to more than 86 towns within Victoria while also servicing southern New South Wales, northern Tasmania and some parts of South Australia.

References

  1. ↑ http://ambulance.vic.gov.au/ambulance-victoria-confirms-tony-walker-as-ceo/
  2. ↑ http://www.ambulance-vic.com.au/Main-home/Doing-it-Better/Ambulance-Victoria-the-future.html
  3. 1 2 3 "Ambulance Victoria Annual Report 2015-2016" (PDF). Ambulance Victoria.
  4. ↑ http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/baillieu-promises-151m-for-ambulance-staff/story-e6frf7kx-1225884934030
  5. ↑ http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victorian-government-pledges-156-million-to-help-curb-ambulance-crisis/story-e6frf7jo-1225886249295
  6. ↑ "ALP Victoria". www.viclabor.com.au. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  7. ↑ mcdonald.admin (2016-03-22). "Ambulance Victoria Work Value Case 2016". FWC Main Site. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  8. ↑ http://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/Ambulance-Victoria/Operations/Branches.html
  9. ↑ "Our Performance – Ambulance Victoria". ambulance.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  10. ↑ http://australianaviation.com.au/2014/04/australian-helicopters-awarded-vic-ambo-contract/
  11. ↑ http://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/Main-home/What-We-Do/Air-Ambulance/Helicopters.html

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ambulance Victoria.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.