Swan Bay ambulance station opens

EMERGENCY response on the Bellarine  Peninsula has improved with the completion of a new ambulance station in Mannerim.

Bellarine MP Lisa Neville joined paramedics on Monday to officially open the new Swan Bay Ambulance Branch.

The station is located between Queenscliff and St Leonards, meaning paramedics can respond to emergencies faster at either location and everywhere in between.

The new station features training facilities, rest and recline rooms, a fully fitted kitchen, as well as four dedicated ambulance response bays, security and staff car parking.

The new building is home to the Swan Bay Advanced Life Support (ALS) 12-hour paramedic crew, while extra paramedics can also be based at the branch to help meet peak demand on the Bellarine Peninsula.

Labor says it has invested $1 billion to deliver more paramedics, more vehicles and more stations, including a $299 million boost in the Victorian Budget 2019/20.

Latest data shows ambulances managed the largest number of emergency cases for the July to September quarter, with 78,130 Code 1 callouts across Victoria. This is up from 69,753 in the
same quarter a year earlier.

Paramedics managed more than 8,300 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.

In Queenscliff, the average Code 1 response time has improved from 21:26 minutes in 2014/15 to 15:32 minutes in the September quarter of 2019/20.

“In an emergency, every second counts,” Ms Neville said.

“This modern new home for paramedics on the Peninsula means locals and tourists who flock here can get lifesaving emergency care they can count on – when they need it most.

“We’re getting it done and building more state-of-the-art ambulance branches, just like Swan Bay, so our dedicated paramedics have 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 on the Bellarine Peninsula and across Victoria.”