Victorian Senior Minister Acknowledges More Needs To Be Done About Ambulance Crisis

Senior Andrews government minister Ben Carroll has acknowledged more needs to be done to fix Victoria’s ambulance crisis, but says Victorians have a big role to play in achieving that.

Carroll was the only government representative to face media on Wednesday, forcing him to face the questions about yesterday’s fifth Code Red issued by Ambulance Victoria this year.

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He was asked if the State Government had failed Victorians during their times of need.

“We put $12 billion in at the last state budget, we’ve recruited 2,000 paramedics, another 700 are in the pipeline,” he said. 

“We’ve always got to do more but we’re asking Victorians to be on the journey with us. 

“We are putting more paramedics on the beat, but we also need Victorians to ensure they only call triple-zero for those emergencies.

“We are going through a difficult time with influenza, the winter months (and) COVID-19.

“It’s incumbent on all Victorians to do everything they can to have an outdoor lifestyle, be triple vaxxed, have your flu shot.”

Despite the alarming amount of Code Reds this year, Carroll said Victorians would be attended to if they are in an emergency.

“If it is an emergency, we are there to support you,” he said.

“We don’t want any life lost. One life lost is one life lost too many. That’s why we’re doing everything we can to have the best healthcare system in the nation.”

The Code Red was issued for metropolitan Victoria just after midnight on Tuesday and lasted until 4am.

At one point, there were no ambulances available, however Ambulance Victoria refused to disclose how long that was for.

But the agency ­confirmed the code-red alert was triggered by “limited fleet availability”. 

A Code Red is Ambulance Victoria’s highest level of disaster protocol and was intended for emergencies such as bushfires, thunderstorm asthma and other mass-casualty events. 

Code Reds had been issued another four times this year already due to staff shortages, workload issues and in at least one case, an IT failure. 

Code reds called this year:

Wednesday, January 5
Tuesday, January 11 
Tuesday, March 29
Friday, May 27

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