Winchelsea paramedics will soon have the safe and modern home base they need with work underway on the town’s first ambulance branch.
Minister for Ambulance Services Jenny Mikakos today inspected the new ambulance branch on Willis Street where construction recently kicked off.
The spacious and purpose-built branch will feature a drive in-and-out garage bay for vehicles, rest and recline areas, training rooms, modern amenities and a fully-fitted out kitchen.
It will be home to a peak period ambulance unit staffed by seven full time paramedics, who are temporarily based in Colac and will relocate to Winchelsea once the branch is built. There is also plenty of space for the ambulance service to grow in the future.
With a modern home base located in the heart of the town, response times will continue to improve and more lives will be saved as Winchelsea patients get the emergency care they need, sooner.
The Andrews Labor Government has already repaired the ambulance crisis and delivered 450 paramedics as part of our $500 million ambulance package – the largest ever investment in Victoria’s ambulance system.
Ambulances are arriving at the scene of Code 1 emergencies faster than ever before. Latest state-wide quarterly performance data showed paramedics reached 83.9 per cent of Code 1 patients within 15 minutes – an improvement of 2.5 percentage points on the same quarter a year earlier.
In the Surf Coast Shire, response time are improving, with 63.4 per cent of ambulances now arriving within 15 minutes for Code 1 emergencies, up from 58 per cent a year earlier.
The average time for an ambulance to reach the scene of a Code 1 emergency in the Surf Coast over the same period has improved from 15:57 minutes to 14:39 minutes.
The Labor Government is now building on its record investment with a further $109 million boost to back our paramedics and improve access to their life-saving services across Victoria.
The funding boost will help us recruit more paramedics, build new stations and get 23 new vehicles on the road.
As noted by Minister for Ambulance Services Jenny Mikakos
“In a medical emergency, every second counts – that’s why we’re building a state-of-the-art ambulance branch for Winchelsea. It will mean even faster response times and more local lives saved.”
“Under the Liberals ambulance response times were the worst on the Australian mainland, but we fixed that by investing more than any government in Victoria’s history in helping paramedics get to emergencies faster.”
As noted by Member for Western Victoria Gayle Tierney
“This new ambulance station will give local paramedics a state-of-the-art facility they can call home and be a great asset to Winchelsea and the surrounding districts.”
