- Minister for Ambulance Services
The Andrews Labor Government has completed Winchelsea's first ever ambulance station to help the region's paramedics reach critical emergencies faster and save lives.
Minister for Ambulance Services Jenny Mikakos today officially opened the ambulance station on Willis Street, Winchelsea.
The station will provide the local community with a modern facility in the centre of the town, giving them peace of mind that life-saving paramedics are around the corner, when they need it most.
Winchelsea is the gateway to major tourist destinations and the Great Ocean Road, meaning the new station is ideally located for paramedics to respond to emergencies faster across the Surf Coast, while supporting existing services in Colac Otway Shire and Greater Geelong.
The modern station features four dedicated ambulance response bays, training facilities, rest and recline rooms, a fully-fitted kitchen and staff car parking to keep paramedics safe.
The Labor Government has invested a record $1 billion to deliver more paramedics, more vehicles and more stations. This includes a big $299 million boost in the Victorian Budget 2019/20.
The latest data shows ambulances managed the largest number of emergency cases for the July to September quarter, with 78,130 Code 1 call-outs across Victoria. This is up from 69,753 in the same quarter a year earlier.
Our dedicated paramedics managed more than 8300 extra callouts in the September quarter, arriving within the benchmark of 15 minutes for 83.3 per cent of Code 1 calls - up from 71.8 per cent in 2014.
The average time for an ambulance to reach the scene of a Code 1 emergency in the Surf Coast Shire over the same period has improved from 19:39 minutes to 13:46 minutes - nearly 6 minutes faster.
As noted by Minister for Ambulance Services Jenny Mikakos
"In an emergency every second counts. That's why we've built Winchelsea's first ever ambulance station to ensure locals and visitors can get lifesaving emergency care - when they need it most."
"We're getting it done and building more local ambulance stations, just like Winchelsea, so our dedicated paramedics have the facilities they deserve and need to do what they do best, which is saving lives."
"Ambulance response times were the worst on the Australian mainland, but we fixed that by investing more than any government in Victoria's history to improve response times, here in the Surf Coast Shire and across Victoria."
