Questions without notice and ministers statements
Ambulance services
John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:02): My question is to the Premier. A MICA ambulance team had to be sent inside Maroondah Hospital to save the life of a woman having a heart attack, because the emergency department was full. Why couldn’t this sick Victorian get treated in a hospital even when she was having a heart attack?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:02): I thank at the outset our hardworking paramedics and healthcare workers, who work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to take care of all Victorians. The Leader of the Opposition is referring to an incident that occurred at Maroondah Hospital and has been reported on in the media overnight and into this morning. Both the health minister and I have addressed this very clearly publicly, and I am happy to provide this information again to the house for the benefit of the Leader of the Opposition.
The minister and I have been very clear about our expectations around how Ambulance Victoria and our hospitals work together, and indeed there are very clear protocols around how patients are transferred at that critical juncture between their ambulance care and into the hospital system. What has been reported as occurring at Maroondah Hospital has clearly not followed those well-established protocols, which is not an acceptable situation to the minister, me or the government. We need to ensure that this is not an incident that is repeated, which is why the minister has directed Eastern Health and Ambulance Victoria to undertake a full investigation to review this as a matter of urgency.
John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:04): In light of the Premier’s reference just then to a full investigation, will the Premier now reconsider her refusal to appear before the ambulance inquiry in the other place?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:04): The answer is no. What I will be doing is continuing the work that we have done in the past number of years, where we have doubled the number of paramedics in the Victorian community and we have added an additional $2 billion in funding. We support our hardworking paramedics, as opposed to those opposite, who went to war with our hardworking paramedics.
James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, I would ask you to bring the Premier back to the question rather than debating the question, which she has started to do.
The SPEAKER: The Premier has answered the question.