00:00Yeah, David Dutton, Chief Officer, ACT Ambulance Service.
00:03So ACT Ambulance Service, like most ambulance services around the country,
00:06are seeing an increased demand in emergency triple zero calls.
00:10That's driven by a number of factors.
00:12Clearly for Canberra, Canberra is a growing city.
00:15We've also, without doubt, got an impact there from an ageing population
00:20and also an awareness from the community of when they need to call emergency triple zero.
00:24So calling emergency triple zero is something that most people,
00:27fortunately, will only do one or two times in their life.
00:31So it's a new experience for everyone.
00:33So it's about understanding how to use our health services,
00:37when to use our ambulance service, when to use our emergency departments.
00:40The message to the community that ACT Ambulance would really promote
00:44is save triple zero for saving lives.
00:46So serious medical conditions, trauma, car accidents,
00:50those are the sorts of things where a really timely response
00:53from emergency triple zero makes a difference.
00:55For less urgent conditions, we'd ask people to consider other health options that they have.
01:00That might be their local chemist.
01:02If they're open, it might be their general practitioner.
01:04It might be one of the many walk-in centres that Canberra is served by.
01:08So we triage all of the calls that we receive,
01:11and we absolutely prioritise those life-threatening emergencies first.
01:15They're the ones that people will probably be most familiar with.
01:18That's the lights and sirens response.
01:20That's what makes the top of the news bulletin or the front page of the paper.
01:23But there's a whole lot of other work that paramedics are doing in the background.
01:27So where it's not necessary to travel lights and sirens,
01:30we'll just be travelling under normal road traffic conditions to those particular calls.
01:35Increasingly in the ACT, as we're seeing in other jurisdictions,
01:39we also have paramedics in our communications centre,
01:42and they can assess some people over the phone.
01:45So a hear-and-treat service might result in a referral or not dispatching an ambulance at all.
01:51I think the key message here is if you're not sure, call 000,
01:55and let our call takers ask their questions and guide you through the process.
01:59If it's a life-threatening emergency, their questions are not slowing down the ambulance response.
02:04They're actually collecting more information that makes sure we can send the right resources to you.
02:09ACT ambulance enjoys some of the best emergency response times in the country.
02:13So comparatively, when we look around the country, ACT ambulance paramedics are responding promptly.
02:19But a feature of the demand for service, you know, Canberra is a growing city with a growing population.
02:25There is pressure on response times, and they have increased in recent years,
02:29and they are above our key performance indicators.
02:33Any less urgent calls that are contributing to that workload obviously stand the chance of taking away
02:39from those life-threatening emergencies that people are calling us about.
02:42So I'd ask people to consider the reason that they're calling emergency 000,
02:47and if it is an emergency, dial that number as quickly as you can,
02:51and our highly qualified staff will guide you through a process.
02:54They'll ask you a number of questions, and the reason they're asking those questions is to help us to help you.
03:01So the more information we have about what's happening with the patient,
03:04the more we can determine both the urgency of that response,
03:07but also the number of resources that we might send.
03:10So for example, in a car accident where there's good information about the number of patients,
03:15we might send more than one ambulance to an incident like that.
03:18So being aware of those things.
03:20Equally, I'd ask people to be aware of other options they have for their healthcare,
03:24whether that's their chemist, whether that's their general practitioner,
03:27or whether it's one of the walk-in centres.
03:29Help us to help Canberrans by saving 000 to save lives.
03:33Help us to help Canberrans by saving 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to save 000 to
Comments