Member for Mildura, Jade Benham MP, has highlighted the worsening pressure on ambulance services across regional Victoria, revealing that taxis are being used to transport patients in a system that is unable to cope with demand.
Ms Benham said communities across the Mildura electorate are being left to deal with the consequences of chronic workforce shortages and poor system resourcing.
“This is a system in crisis and regional Victorians are paying the price,” Ms Benham said.
“People in the Mildura electorate deserve proper emergency care, not stopgap solutions because there are not enough ambulances on the road.”
Ms Benham said she is aware of a local case where a Mildura patient was transported by taxi for urgent care and later required an appendectomy.
“This was a person in acute pain who should have been in an ambulance, not sitting in the back of a taxi trying to get to hospital.
“That should never be happening in a modern health system and it raises serious questions about patient safety.”
