RSS Feed
April 22nd, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Posted
The New South Wales Opposition Health spokesman says the Central Coast is being dudded, with figures showing local ambulance response times are amongst the slowest in state.
Government data, released under Freedom Of Information, reveals ambulance response times for last financial year are up compared to the previous 12 months.
Doctor Andrew McDonald says more strain is being placed on the system due to cuts to paramedic staffing and hospital bed shortages.
“On the Central Coast, the 50th percentile, which means the average one is 12-and-a-half minutes, three minutes longer than Sydney and that’s only half the response time, ” he said.
“Over half the people are waiting more than 12-and-a-half minutes on the Central Coast, and some are waiting a very long time.”
But New South Wales Ambulance Service disagrees with the figures.
Superintendent Simone Locke says the data does not accurately reflect what is happening on the ground.
“The data that was discussed is actually all triple-zero calls,” she said.
“When someone calls triple-zero, the call is essentially triaged and those most urgent cases, our response time to those of the most serious nature, is less than nine minutes.
“It’s comparable with response times across the state.”
Topics:
health,
government-and-politics,
gosford-2250,
wyong-2259
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-22/ambo-delay/4643874
Views: 0
Posted in 
