Presented by Robert Clark MP		www.robertclark.net

MAS attends record number of emergencies

Demand for ambulance attendance in Greater Melbourne remains high, with more than 46,500 emergency cases — an average of more than 500 per day — attended by the Metropolitan Ambulance Service in the March quarter of 1999.

Of those, 32,699 were time-critical (Code 1), based on the information provided to the Ambulance Communications Centre. More than 90% of these cases were attended to in 14 minutes or less.

Compared with the March 1998 quarter:

• Emergency ambulance caseload increased by 9.9%.
• 7.5% more emergency patients were transported.
• 10.2% more non-emergency stretcher patients were transported.
• Air Ambulance transports increased by 4.4%.

During the March quarter, four student Ambulance Paramedics began their training and nine Ambulance Paramedics successfully completed the selection process and started MICA (Intensive Care) training.

(MAS Response Report, Issue 6, June, 1999)