Minister speaks up as ambo's claims keep ramping
Victoria’s Health minister has lashed out again at the state’s ambulance union, accusing it of misrepresenting waiting times at hospitals on numerous occasions.
Victorian Health Minister David Davis has accused the union of faking a recent photograph showing hospital patients on trolleys lining the hallways of the Frankston hospital. The Government obtained and released CCTV footage from that night, showing what strongly appears to be workers wheeling in and arranging the patients for the photograph.
The Ambulance Employees Association says Frankston is not the only place where patients are piling up on big nights of the week, with cases of ambulance ramping reported on Thursday night at the Alfred, Royal Melbourne and Northern Hospitals.
The Health Minister says that was not the case: “I'm informed that there were no delays at those hospitals,” he said.
“They made claims also last night about the Geelong region. I'm also informed that those claims were not true.”
A long running and bitter dispute is being waged between Victorian ambulance workers and the government, where paramedics say they are the best trained but lowest paid for their duties in the country.