AMBULANCE Victoria has rejected reports it was reducing specialist paramedic services in Swan Hill.
According to reports in the Herald Sun, Ambulance Victoria was considering removing single-responder Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance units from regional areas.
Larger areas such as Bendigo, Ballarat, Morwell and Horsham – which were served by two-member MICA ambulances – would also be affected by the reallocation of resources.
MICA paramedics are trained to treat life-threatening injuries and are often used for 000 calls involving heart attacks, strokes, and serious road crashes. They operate as single responders or in teams of two.
However, Ambulance Victoria director of clinical operations Anthony Carlyon quashed the claims.
“Ambulance Victoria is not reducing MICA or any of our clinical services in regional or rural Victoria, including the Swan Hill area,” Mr Carlyon told The Guardian.
“Last year, we saw record numbers of MICA interns in training, and we’ll see a further record boost in MICA this year – these interns will be placed across the state.
“There are currently 131 MICA interns in training, who will soon be on the road across the state. This is in addition to a significant increase in overall paramedic workforce numbers in the last four years.”
In a statement, Ambulance Victoria said it was continually looking at how to deliver care across the state to improve services for all Victorians.
“It is important to note intensive care is one part of our service delivery to provide care to Victorians and we are looking at how all of our services – on the road, in the air and in our triage services – work collectively to deliver the best possible outcomes for patients,” the statement said.
“Ambulance Victoria’s operating model has teams with different skill sets working together to ensure our patients receive the right care at the right time.”
Shadow health minister Georgie Crozier said the cuts would have serious consequences for Victorians.
“Not having MICA units available is putting lives at risk and is a real-life consequence of Labor’s inability to manage Victoria’s finances,” Ms Crozier said in a statement.
“Instead of cutting vital MICA resources, the Allan Government should be increasing services.”
Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill told the Herald Sun the MICA system was already in crisis following a new roster system introduced in December, describing it as “absolutely outrageous”.
Premier Jacinta Allan said there had been “absolutely no cuts to ambulance funding” since the Labor government was elected in 2014.
“We’ve provided $2 billion in funding. We’ve doubled the number of paramedics who are working right across Victoria and we will continue to provide that support,” Ms Allan said.
But when asked to address media reports about cuts to MICA services specifically, Ms Allan said the issue went to “operations decisions” made by Ambulance Victoria.
“Those operational decisions around dispatch and deployment of these skilled workers is very much best left to those with the operational expertise,” she said.
“And that’s exactly how it should be.”
