BEAUFORT will get a new, professionally staffed ambulance station if the Coalition is elected in November.
Speaking in Ballarat yesterday, Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said the station would be built on a site chosen by Ambulance Victoria.
Beaufort is currently staffed by a Community Emergency Response Team, whose members only have a Certificate II in Emergency Management.
"The Coalition will ensure this growing community has the services it deserves with additional fully-trained paramedics," Mr Baillieu said. He said Beaufort was an important link on the Western Highway and desperately needed its ambulance service upgraded.
"It's a huge ask of volunteers to man this station."
The Beaufort CERT team has also been used to cover paramedic vacancies in Ararat.
In 2009, a Beaufort man was left waiting an hour for help after he broke his hip and an elderly Beaufort woman suffered a mild heart attack while the CERT team was in Ararat when paramedics refused to work overtime due to stalled enterprise bargaining talks. Earlier this week, the Coalition announced a $151 million plan to boost regional ambulance services, including 43 new paramedics for the Grampians region and six patient transport officers.
Email a friend