Health Minister David Davis has been met with mixed reactions at the opening of a new ambulance station and announcement of additional resources in Melton.
The parents of two Melton men who died while waiting for an ambulance in Melton last year, confronted Mr Davis and Ambulance Victoria chief executive Greg Sassella at the opening today.
Steve and Jo Gibbs, whose son Matthew waited 16 minutes for an ambulance on October 8 and Julie Wilson, whose son Brodie waited 27 minutes for an ambulance to come from Sunbury on June 29, called on the coroner to launch a full inquest into both boys’ deaths.
Mr Gibbs, who was holding a picture of his son, continually shouted at Mr Davis and those making speeches during the presentation, saying the needs in Melton weren’t being met.
Ms Wilson told the Weekly that she felt today’s opening was part of a band aid solution.
“The ambulance service is in crisis and the hospital system is in crisis and they are not fixing what needs to be fixed.
“The KPI is 15 minutes and to me even that’s too long; my son waited 27 minutes.
“I feel the government need to stand up and do the job that has to be done and do the job which needs to be done and no more people die unnecessarily.”
More than 25 paramedics from Melton and surrounding areas were also in attendance protesting about current working conditions.
Melton paramedic Aaron Riding said: “At the moment Melton does have a grievance [complaint] in place over fatigue management issues with our current rostering system.
“The opening of this branch is being ticketed as a big item for the town, but literally it does not represent an increase of services for Melton and the greater Moorabool community.
“We are currently in the middle of our enterprise agreement and the government is not showing support and we are here to say it’s a smoke and mirrors campaign to cover up some of the greater issues.”
Mr Davis said the new branch would provide quality of support for paramedics, enabling them to have a standard of accommodation that they’ll deserve.
“Not only is it worth to know that psychical infrastructure is going in the form of a new branch, there has also been an upgrade of night time capacity last year, capacity upgrade in Bacchus Marsh.
“Starting on Monday, [there will be] a new peak period unit providing additional coverage during the day in this branch.”
He that response times were improving across the state up until the end of last year.
Mr Sassella said the coroner was still looking into both cases and was yet to make a decision on whether inquests for both men would go ahead.
During the official opening, a memorial plaque for former Melton paramedic Peter Watson was also unveiled.
Mr Watson, whose family was at the opening, was a highly regarded former team manager and paramedic for 31 years.
Read more in next week’s print edition of Melton & Moorabool Weekly.
