Moggill needs First Reponder Program
Thursday, 13 March 2008 10:00
Dr FLEGG (Moggill—Lib) (9.38 pm): Twelve months ago I raised the issue that within a large part
of my electorate and the western suburbs of Brisbane only one in four category 1 emergencies
for ambulance call-outs arrive on time. To boil that down to its lowest common denominator, that means lives are lost in critical emergencies because the Queensland government is unable to supply an ambulance service that arrives on time three-quarters of the time in critical category 1 emergencies. In response to my having raised this issue a year ago, there was a move to institute a first-responder program in the area from Moggill and Bellbowrie through to Brookfield, and I supported that measure. I met with the minister in relation to it and I still support that measure. Furthermore, at my own expense I circulated my electorate and identified 120-odd people interested in being a first responder. Yet now a year later we do not seem to be any further advanced in getting that scheme up and running.
What really concerns me is that for every month that goes by more lives are potentially put at risk
in the event of an emergency. Whether it is a car accident, whether it is a house fire, whether it is a child in a swimming pool or whether it is a heart attack, stroke, diabetic coma or any other sort of emergency, lives are being put at risk. I met again with the department today, and I want to renew my call to the government to increase its efforts to at the very least get a first-responder program organised to protect lives in this very large portion of the city of Brisbane. There is no ambulance station west of Kenmore, and we would certainly love to see one. But in the interim we need some sort of response in a life-threatening emergency that will be able to deliver CPR and that will be able to deliver defibrillation or other emergency treatment. My electorate has a serious situation with the roads—with roads that are frequently jammed with traffic and, if there is an accident, become completely impassable. Lives are at risk while ever this situation continues. There is a need for the government to make sure there is provision to protect them.