A five-year-old Melton West child with breathing difficulties who waited 49 minutes for paramedics to arrive is the latest person affected by delayed ambulance arrival times.
Ambulance Victoria group manager Tony Elliott said the child’s parents called for an ambulance at 11.47pm on November 8.
“An ambulance was immediately dispatched before the case was reallocated to a closer ambulance when it became available,” he said.
“That ambulance was close to the scene when it was diverted to a suspected cardiac arrest and the original ambulance was dispatched again.”
Mr Elliott said the child was diagnosed with croup and taken to Sunshine Hospital in a stable condition.
In Melton, there have been three deaths since October last year in cases in which patients waited longer than 15 minutes for ambulances.
Mr Elliott said additional resources had been allocated to Caroline Springs and more resources would be added to Melton by April 2014.
