Politicians do battle over ambulance service

VICTORIA'S political leaders have heeded the strong message about declining ambulance services.The state government and the opposition have unveiled multi-million dollar plans to overhaul regional ambulance services, including significant boosts for the Ballarat and wider western Victorian region.It follows recent intense criticism of the ambulance service including:*The death of 20-year-old Sunbury footballer Stephen Buckman who died after waiting 20 minutes for an ambulance in May;*The death of Dick Gouge in Maryborough in May, who waited more than 38 minutes for an ambulance despite living only one block from the ambulance station;*The death of Maryborough's Carl Lawrence in March last year, who died on the football field after waiting nearly 20 minutes for ambulances from Avoca and Castlemaine as the local unit was on a fatigue break; and*The case of Kyneton woman Ann Gallon who was forced to endure a 3.5 hour ambulance trip to hospital after suffering stroke-like symptoms caused by a brain tumour earlier this week. While the state government has promised an extra 27 paramedics in the Grampians region, the Coalition has trumped it with 49, plus a new ambulance station at Beaufort.Both parties have promised more MICA paramedics, while the state government will also provide non-emergency transfer crews aimed at freeing up paramedics.Premier John Brumby said the government's $56 million plan will deliver the "highest quality ambulance service" to regional communities."That's why we are investing in the largest single deployment of paramedics into rural and regional communities in the state's history, providing a 30 per cent boost to the paramedic workforce in our regions," Mr Brumby said.However, Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said their $151 million proposal will overhaul an "ailing ambulance service". "Labor has had 11 years to fix the crisis in our ambulance service and for all those years Victorians have heard nothing but excuses from this incompetent government," Mr Baillieu said.