Ambulance Victoria


Ambulance Victoria is the state ambulance service for Victoria, Australia, and a statutory agency of the Department of Health. AV provides pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services throughout Victoria and some border towns. Ambulance Victoria was formed on 1 July 2008 with the merger of the Metropolitan Ambulance Service, Rural Ambulance Victoria, and the Alexandra District Ambulance Service.
Ambulance Victoria provides emergency medical response to more than 5.9 million people in an area of more than 227,000 square kilometres. During 2015–2016, Ambulance Victoria responded to 843,051 cases.
The service is funded by fees for the cost of transport and treatment by paramedics, with paid memberships entitling holders to free services. Private health insurance or compensation providers such as the Transport Accident Commission or WorkCover may cover out-of-pocket costs, however Australia's universal health insurance scheme does not fund ambulance services.

History

A formal ambulance service began in Victoria in 1883. Over the years services were provided by St John Ambulance, Civil Ambulance Service and a multitude local area ambulance services.
In the 1980s the Metropolitan Ambulance Service was formed from a number of smaller area services; and 16 regional services were amalgamated into five. In 1997, the rural services were consolidated to one rural service, Rural Ambulance Victoria.
On 22 April 2008, Premier John Brumby and Health Minister Daniel Andrews announced a record funding boost of over $185m, including two new helicopter services, 26 new ambulance stations and over 300 new paramedics. In addition, it was announced that the way the state's ambulance services work was to be changed with Metropolitan Ambulance Service and Rural Ambulance Victoria becoming one organisation, Ambulance Victoria. On 26 May this decision was confirmed, with the consolidated service commencing operation on 1 July 2008.

Overview

Ambulance Victoria is required under the Ambulance Services Act 1986 to respond rapidly to requests for help in a medical emergency; provide specialised medical skills to maintain life and to reduce injuries in emergency situations and while transporting patients; provide specialised transport facilities to move people requiring emergency medical treatment; provide services for which specialised medical or transport skills are necessary and foster public education in first aid.
Ambulance Victoria's primary function is to respond to emergency incidents and its secondary function is medical transport requests. Emergency Incidents are responded to by paramedics, Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance paramedics, Air Ambulance paramedics and if in a regional area also by Ambulance Community Officers employed on a casual basis and volunteer Community Emergency Response Team or by Remote Area Nurse from a bush hospital. Ambulance Victoria has more than 260 ambulance branches located across Victoria.
In 2015–2016, Ambulance Victoria's workforce was 3,438 paramedics and 578 MICA paramedics. In addition, Ambulance Victoria employed 723 casual ACO and there were 357 CERT volunteers.
In the same year, Ambulance Victoria responded to 843,051 emergency and non-emergency cases including 172,960 emergency road incidents in the five rural regions, 416,887 emergency road incidents in the two metropolitan regions and 4,556 emergency air incidents.
Ambulance Victoria assesses each emergency incident on receipt of the 000 call, designating the incident a code depending on the urgency/severity, and publishes its response times for each quarter of the year on the internet.
Ambulance Victoria operates a Bicycle Response Unit in pre-planned operations for public events in Melbourne with large crowds. The unit was established in the lead up to the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
In 2012, a Paramedic Motorcycle Unit was trialled in inner city Melbourne operating two Piaggio MP3 three wheeled motorbikes. The trial was successful with the BMW F700GS motorcycle selected to be the unit's motorcycle to operate in the inner Melbourne area mainly in the councils of City of Melbourne and City of Port Phillip.

Communications

Ambulance Victoria's emergency and non-emergency patient transport communications are handled by Triple Zero Victoria communication centres in Ballarat, East Burwood and Docklands.
Ambulance communications functions include 000 Emergency call-taking, non-emergency patient transport requests, and ambulance dispatch for emergency and non-emergency vehicles. Modern emergency services communications is highly advanced, and communications staff use a wide range of technologies including digital and analogue radio, telephones, pagers, and advanced computer and GPS systems. Many emergency services vehicles, including ambulances, are fitted with mobile data terminals that enable them to view information, read messages sent by call-takers and dispatchers, and be notified of updates immediately as they become available. A number of communication services used by Ambulance Victoria, such as digital radio and mobile data terminals, are not available outside metropolitan Melbourne.

Vehicles

Ambulance Victoria operates a range of vehicles:
  • Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
  • Ford Territory
  • Toyota Kluger
  • Volkswagen Amarok
  • Volkswagen Transporter
  • Volkswagen Crafter
  • BMW F700GS motorcycles
  • Honda Odyssey
  • Toyota Land Cruiser
  • Mercedes Vito
Their most common vehicle is the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. This vehicle is the frontline vehicle for all of Victoria as they carry one patient at a time with loads of medical equipment, which is usually staffed by two paramedics. There are also different models including models with bull bars/push bumpers for better use in rural areas. AV also operates Mobile Intensive Care Ambulances which are staffed by more specially trained paramedics and different equipment. They also operate Non-Emergency Patient Transport Ambulances and Clinical Transport Services units. For more complex patients, AV has Complex Patient Ambulance Vehicles and Adult Retrieval Services both are similar to the standard general ambulances. The CPAV units include a lift platform at the back instead of regular doors, the AR unit has more specialist equipment.
Introduced in 2017, AV teamed up with The Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Stroke Foundation and numerous other agencies to create a $7 Million Mobile Stroke Unit Ambulance. The state-of-the-art vehicle include specialist equipment tailored to stroke patients. In the ambulance is a built-in CT-Scanner. Two paramedics staff the ambulance, a CT radiographer, a stroke neurologist and a stroke nurse specialist. The first MSU is currently running as car 6600. In 2020, it was announced that AV would commence building a next generation Stroke Ambulance otherwise known as MSU-2

Air Ambulance Victoria

Ambulance Victoria has a fleet of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft operated by Air Ambulance Victoria based out of Essendon Airport in Melbourne with helicopters strategically placed in regional Victoria. In addition, the helicopters respond to search and rescue incidents, able to utilise the winch, including sea rescues.

Helicopters

AAV operates five twin engine AgustaWestland AW139 helicopters provided by Babcock Mission Critical Services Australasia. The helicopters were introduced from 2016 to replace the four Bell 412EP helicopters and also one Eurocopter AS365N3 Dauphin helicopter that had been operated in partnership with the Victoria Police Air Wing.
The helicopters are designated HEMS and operate throughout the state:-
  • HEMS 1 based at Essendon Airport.
  • HEMS 2 based at La Trobe Valley Airport.
  • HEMS 3 based at Bendigo Airport.
  • HEMS 4 based at Warrnambool Airport.
  • HEMS 5 is for primary response and specialist medical retrieval based at Essendon Airport.
Helicopter operations commenced in 1970 with a Bell 206A JetRanger known as the 'Angel of Mercy' based on the Mornington Peninsula operated from Tyabb Airport. In 1980, a Hughes 500D was operated in the La Trobe Valley, later a Bell 206 Long Ranger and from 1985 a Bell 412 known as Helimed 1 later renamed to HEMS 2. In 1986, AAV entered a partnership with the Victoria Police Air Wing to use a Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin which would respond to both police and ambulance incidents with ambulance given priority known as HEMS 1 and replacing the 'Angel of Mercy'. Two helicopters were configured for the aeromedical role with one as a spare. In 2001, a Bell 412EP was operated from Bendigo airport known as HEMS 3. In 2009, a Bell 412EP was operated from Warrnambool Airport known as HEMS 4 and a second Bell 412EP was operated from Essendon known as HEMS 5 to transport critically ill patients from rural hospitals to Melbourne. In January 2017, the final of the five new AgustaWestland AW139s entered service replacing the Victoria Police Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin and ending the partnership. The aircraft are staffed by MICA Flight Paramedics who are trained to administer blood, conduct ultrasounds, complete complex procedures and perform winch rescues.

Fixed-wing aircraft

AAV has operated four Beechcraft Super King Air B200s, provided by Pel-Air Aviation, from its Essendon headquarters since 2011 and can reach most of Victoria within an hour. They are used mainly for transporting patients from rural towns to the major hospitals in Melbourne and can carry two stretcher patients and two walking patients. This service includes bringing people to Melbourne for regular treatments such as oncology and dialysis while also facilitating acute medical conditions requiring surgery or the transfer of injured patients from rural hospitals to specialist care. The service now reaches to more than 86 towns within Victoria while also servicing southern New South Wales, northern Tasmania and some parts of South Australia. The aircraft are typically staffed by advanced life support paramedics.