Tuesday, 20 September 2022

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority

Ms CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:00): My question is for the Minister for Emergency Services. Minister, at 4.00 am on 29 May, 75-year-old Golda Shulkes called an ambulance for her husband, Gary, who was in agony with kidney failure. She made three calls over an hour but no ambulance was available. In desperation Golda called a taxi, and the driver kindly picked Gary up off the floor, put him in a taxi and took him to hospital. He sadly died several hours later. I note that this is not an isolated incident. So I ask, Minister: is it acceptable that failures in the 000 call service lead to the deaths of people like Golda’s husband, Gary, and the trauma to taxidrivers when transporting critically ill patients?

Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:00): I thank Ms Crozier for her question. Absolute condolences to Gary’s family and the situation that you have described. It is difficult for me to comment on specific cases. As we know, when it comes to adverse events, they are a matter for the inspector-general for emergency management (IGEM) to investigate, report on et cetera. He makes it very clear that it is not his role to look at causation. That is a matter for the coroner, and it would be inappropriate to attribute death in any circumstances. Sorry, Ms Crozier, was it Goldie, you said?

Ms Crozier: Golda.

Ms SYMES: Golda. So again, regarding anybody that has experienced call delays, it is something that I am on the record as saying is unacceptable, and it is why we have put so much effort into ensuring that we support ESTA to become a system that Victorians can rely on. As we know, right here and right now, that is certainly the case.

Ms Crozier, you have referred to a situation that you have expanded on in relation to not only a call-taking situation but availability of ambulances, and as you would be aware, the Minister for Ambulance Services is responsible for ambulance provision. My responsibility as Minister for Emergency Services is indeed the call taking but not the amount of ambulances or indeed the clinical decisions around when they would be dispatched and when they would not, so I hope that that provides you with an answer within the confines of my inability to reflect on individual cases. I think that you have gone to comments in relation to attributing cause of death, and I would warn you that that is not a role for politicians. That is a role for the coroner.

Ms CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:02): Minister, you have just highlighted in your answer the systemic failures that have occurred under your watch with the Andrews government, whether it is 000, whether it is the ambulance services and so much more, where far too many Victorians have died—33. The IGEM report itself made it very clear that there were multiple failures. So I think you are brushing this case away. It is a very significant case, so I ask: why did the 000 call service fail in the case of Golda’s husband? What went wrong?

Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:03): Ms Crozier, as I have said, anybody that has experienced a call delay, anybody that has had a bad experience with the health system due to the pandemic and the unprecedented pressure on it, absolutely I am—

Ms Crozier interjected.

Ms SYMES: Absolutely these are the conversations that I have with many people that have had this experience. It is part of the motivation for why I have been able to go and secure additional funding. It is why I sit out with the ESTA staff and listen to them, their needs, and listen to call taking, for example. Again, you are asking me to reflect on an individual matter, and it is just not an appropriate use of question time to do so.