Two reports into Victoria’s triple-zero agency response during the COVID-19 pandemic have been handed down and identified the “missed opportunities and failings” of the services.
The reports authored by Inspector-General for Emergency Management Tony Pearce reviewed the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) and the state’s emergency service preparedness for a pandemic.
Throughout the pandemic, Victoria’s health system buckled under the pressure of the public health emergency with long wait times for a triple zero call being answered or an ambulance being dispatched.
Pearce said ambulance call activity increased by more than 53,000 calls between 2020 and 2021, or a rate of 6.4 per cent.
It then increased by 12 per cent in 2021 to 2022 by more than 106,000 calls.
Pearce found the 40 “adverse events” as a result of the health care delays resulted in 33 deaths but would not comment further on the deaths as they are before the coroner.
“It is impossible to conclude whether or not the call answer delay impacted upon the final outcome for those individuals, that’s up to the coroner,” Pearce said.
Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes apologised profusely to the families and friends of those who died and said this review is to ensure it never happens again.
“I hope no one has an experience like them in the future,” she said.
“I am deeply sorry for your trauma, your loss, and your grief.”
However, Pearce found the faults of ESTA during this time were not of the call takers and dispatchers working on the “frontline of the frontline”.
“There were missed opportunities and failings in Victoria’s emergency communication system but I find no fault at all in the vital and skillful work of the call-takers and dispatchers,” he said.
“I acknowledge this has been a very difficult period for them, many of them have suffered as a result of what they’ve seen.”
Pearce said the two key findings of the report into the failings of the response were:
- An inadequate number of ESTA call takers was associated with this funding model and the pandemic’s impact on an underresourced workforce.
- Significantly increased demand and volume of triple zero calls for ambulances which included a large number of calls for non-life-threatening emergencies.
The call answer review made eight recommendations which Symes says have been accepted in full.
In his recommendations, Pearce said more education is needed about when to call triple zero and more funding is needed for the service.
“Revising ESTA’s funding arrangements to ensure it has the capacity and means to fulfill its role in a sustainable and ongoing way to meet Victorians’ expectations their calls for emergency assistance are answered quickly,” Pearce said as one of the key recommendations.
“Improve all agencies’ community education processes around Victoria’s emergency call service including when to call triple zero.”
The preparedness for a major public health emergency report was also handed down with seven recommendations which Symes said have been accepted in full and are already being implemented.
These include: developing new emergency response management plans, a pandemic preparation plan that invests $12 billion in staff and care initiatives, training and hiring more health care staff, and infrastructure funding.
The full reports and all the recommendations will be available publicly today.
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