Alcohol, painkiller call outs up in central Victoria

The number of alcohol-related ambulance call outs in the City of Greater Bendigo increased by 18 per cent last year.

A Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre report has revealed there were 283 ambulance call outs to incidents involving alcohol in 2013/14, 50 more than in the previous year.

The rate of call outs for non-opioid painkillers such as aspirin, ibuprofen and paracetamol also rose by 22 per cent to become the fifth highest in regional Victoria, accounting for 11 per cent of the total, just behind Geelong at 12 per cent.

Responses to incidents involving prescription painkillers including morphine, oxycodone and pethidine increased by 17 per cent.

The Trends in Alcohol and Drug-Related Ambulance Attendances in Victoria report recorded 98 call outs relating to analgesics and 106 involving anti-depressants or benzodiazepine compared with just 38 relating to cannabis and 30 involving crystal methamphetamine, or ice.

Turning point researcher Belinda Lloyd said an aging population meant Bendigo was more susceptible to abuse of prescription medication.

“One of the other things is that we know some pharmacy drugs are also used illicitly, they’re used like illicit drugs so there’s a black market for them or they’re given to people who haven’t had them prescribed to them and we see those drugs more commonly in regional Victoria than in metropolitan Melbourne,” she said.

“The rates of heroin and other illicit drugs are much lower in regional Victoria whereas pharmacy drugs are much higher so it’s partly about availability and also awareness of the risk.”

The number of attendances for cannabis increased by 45 per cent, up from 21 incidents in 2012/13, while heroin related call outs doubled from five to 10, but Associate Professor Lloyd cautioned against drawing too many conclusions from the low numbers.

“Where the numbers are quite low it’s important that we monitor that to see if there is an emerging trend but because the numbers are very low you can get that sort of variation from year to year which is just one event or something that’s due to chance,” she said.

Ambulance Victoria acting Loddon group manager Tony Walsh said alcohol was the biggest single cause of substance abuse call outs for ambulance members in the Bendigo area, but stressed the particular dangers associated with ice.

“The drug ice is like no other in the way that it can quickly send people out of control,” he said.

“There is a high potential for people affected by ice to be aggressive and violent towards those trying to help them.

“No paramedic in the Bendigo area, or any part of Victoria, comes to work expecting to be harmed.”

A number of central Victorian council areas recorded increases in alcohol related ambulance attendances between 2012/13 and 2013/14.

The most dramatic rise was in Campaspe Shire where there were 106 alcohol related call outs, up from 87 in the previous year.

Loddon Shire saw the second highest increase, up from 10 to 17.

Mount Alexander Shire rose moderately from 43 to 47 call outs while Macedon Ranges Shire and Buloke Shire remained steady.

Central Goldfields Shire has topped the list of central Victorian local government areas for rates of alcohol and cannabis related ambulance attendances.

The shire was ranked seventh in regional Victoria for alcohol related call outs in 2013/14 with 45 incidents, up from 39 in 2012/13.

There were 7 cannabis related call outs in the Central Goldfields in 2013/14, the eighth highest rate per head of population in regional Victoria.

The shire also came in 14th for incidents involving benzodiazepine.