Ambulance Response Times Worsen
Saturday, 27 January 2007 10:00
I have recently obtained figures from the Queensland Government that show that Ambulance Response Times in the Western Suburbs have continued to worsen.
The average ambulance response time for people living in the Moggill electorate has become totally unacceptable and tragically have even deteroriated in some suburbs. This is obviously a risk to human life.
Most residents will recall that a young woman who had collapsed recently waited one and one half hours (1.5hrs) for an ambulance service to Bellbowrie.
The latest figures show why.
Ambulance response times for Code 1 emergencies in the Moggill/Bellbowrie and Brookfield area still show that over 70% of all emergencies are not attended within the recommended 10 minutes.
This is simply unacceptable.
Clearly, emergencies such as road accidents, electrocutions, drownings and heart attacks can strike in any community and there is little comfort for local residents in knowing that 3 times of out 4 the ambulance will not get there in time.
Perhaps even more alarming is the fact that now just 57% of ambulances arrive on-time in the Kenmore and Chapel Hill area, despite the ambulance station being located at Kenmore!
While the Minister has allocated some extra resources to the local area, it is clearly not enough.
We need to tackle the problem seriously before a tragedy occurs.
I have strongly protested this ongoing situation and will shortly contact residents with a proposal to do something practical to protect the lives of local families.