Victoria Minister for Ambulance Services Jenny Mikakos

Work Starts On New Terang Ambulance Branch

Victor P Taffa

Terang paramedics will soon have the safe and modern home base they need with work underway on a new state-of-the-art ambulance branch.

Minister for Ambulance Services Jenny Mikakos today kicked off construction of the new ambulance branch on Cameron Street.

“In a medical emergency, every second counts and that’s why we’re building a state-of-the-art ambulance branch for Terang. It will mean even faster response times and more local lives saved.” Minister for Ambulance Services Jenny Mikakos said.

New Terang ambulance branch is being co-located with the Terang Hospital. The town’s existing branch was built in the 1970’s and no longer meets the needs of a modern ambulance service.

Being built on a larger site, the new branch will feature:

• 3-bay garage,
• Modern amenities,
• Reliever’s quarters for long-term paramedic accommodation,
• Rest and recline rooms,
• Staff parking,
• Training room.

“This new ambulance station will give local paramedics a state-of-the-art facility they can call home and be a great asset to Terang and the surrounding districts.” Member for Western Victoria Gayle Tierney said.

It will be home to three paramedics, who are supported by about 12 Ambulance Community Officers. There is also plenty of space for the ambulance service to grow in the future.

Andrews Government has already fixed the ambulance crisis and delivered 450 paramedics as part of its $500 Million ambulance package the largest ever investment in Victoria’s ambulance system.

Ambulances are arriving at the scene of Code 1 emergencies faster than ever before. Latest state-wide quarterly performance data showed paramedics reached 83.9 % of Code 1 patients within 15 minutes an improvement of 2.5 percentage points on the same quarter a year earlier.

In the Corangamite Shire response times have improved with 49.4 % of ambulances now arriving within 15 minutes for Code 1 emergencies, up from 46.4 % 3 months earlier.

Average time for an ambulance to reach the scene of a Code 1 emergency in Corangamite over the same period has improved from 18:25 Minutes to 17:25 Minutes.

Andrews Government is now building on its record investment with a further $109 Million boost to back our paramedics and improve access to their life-saving services across Victoria.

Funding boost will help recruit even more paramedics, build new stations and get 23 new vehicles on the road.