Related: Ambulance response times improve
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IT IS expected the community will have more input in the operations of Ambulance Victoria following the launch of its first engagement plan in Bendigo on Monday.
The plan aims to improve the public’s participation in the shape and delivery of services, create opportunities for patients to have a say and improve the information available to the community, among other objectives.
“We know that greater engagement and participation by consumers and the community in their own health care decisions, and in the shape and delivery of health care services more broadly, improves people’s experiences of care and ultimately their outcomes of care,” Ambulance Victoria chairman Ken Lay said.
Sue Clarke, chairwoman of the organisation’s community advisory committee, said there was no one issue raised by the community that triggered the creation of the plan.
Instead, Ms Clarke said, it was about building systems to engage members of the public and moving services forward to better meet their needs.
At Monday’s launch, there was a focus on the diversity of the community and, likewise, within Ambulance Victoria.
Mr Lay said the organisation had improved on this front, with more than 50 per cent of the workforce now women and greater cultural diversity found within its ranks, but there was more work to do.
He also acknowledged the organisation had not yet met the community’s expectations on response times, but said it was working towards further improvement.
New performance figures show improvement across the state as a whole and central Victoria.
Executive director of emergency operations, Mick Stephenson, said there had been a growing focus on getting ambulances to the most critically ill patients and diverting less urgent cases to other services.
Mr Stephenson said the community engagement plan would help the service better understand needs.
He said there was particular interest the needs of smaller communities, in order to improve their services.