ACT Ambulance’s David Dutton and Canberra Health Service’s Dr Michael Hall are asking Canberrans to familiarise themselves with when to call triple zero. Photo: Nicholas Ward.
Emergency and health services have urged ACT residents to know when to call – and not to call – an ambulance after the Territory notched a record number of triple-zero calls.
Over the last financial year, more than 67,000 calls were made to triple zero from within the ACT, stretching the resources of emergency health services.
According to ACT Ambulance Service chief officer, David Dutton, misconceptions about emergency patient transport and care needed to be set right.
“When you use an ambulance for something that is not an emergency, you’re keeping it away from another Canberran,” he said. “Arriving at one of our emergency departments in an ambulance does not necessarily mean you will be seen quicker.
“Whether that’s the most appropriate care for patients is really the question we’re asking people to pose to themselves.”
Patients inappropriately contacting triple zero either for non-emergency care or trying to get around wait times is currently taking a toll on the health service.
Mr Dutton encouraged residents to educate themselves on non-emergency options available to them.
He said some patients used emergency for their primary care needs.
“People struggling to get into their GP, people not sure how to navigate their own health care needs, [are calling] triple zero.
“We’ll prioritise that call, but always the most life-threatening emergency will be the one we’re responding to first.”
Concerns about primary care availability have risen in recent years with the decline in GP bulk billing rates.
While Mr Dutton said ambulances would always respond, occupied crews strained wait times for other cases.
“ACT Ambulance enjoys some of the best emergency response times in the country, but there is no doubt that, with an increasing number of triple-zero calls every year, there is pressure on response times,” he said.
“The reality means the next triple-zero call may wait longer for an ambulance. If they’re having a life-threatening event … those people can wait longer for an ambulance because the paramedics are occupied with other patients in the system.”
It’s a trend being seen in emergency departments across the ACT.
Canberra Health Service’s North Canberra ED director Dr Michael Hall said the community assumption that transport by ambulance meant shorter emergency wait times was incorrect.
“The sickest and most unwell patients will be rushed straight into a bed, often organised before the patient gets there,” Dr Hall said.
“The medium-level unwell patients will be triaged and will often quickly be placed in a bed. But the triage process is completely independent of the method of arrival.”
Dr Hall said while the hospital assessed everyone who presented, he warned that non-emergency patients going to the emergency department could create longer wait times for all.
“Our walk-in centres, our own medical phone advice line of Health Direct, even looking to see a GP or some of the care community pharmacists can provide, can all be options,” Dr Hall said.
In recent years, the ACT has expanded same-day non-emergency options for residents with the city’s walk-in clinics joining the federal urgent care clinic network in 2023.
Dr Hall said he didn’t want to discourage anyone from phoning triple zero, which was why it was important for everyone to educate themselves about their non-emergency options.
“It’s always difficult to ask people to choose at a stressful time of their life. Neither David [Dutton] or myself are asking people to go, ‘I’m only 30 years old, so this chest pain might not be something to worry about.’ If people feel they need to call triple zero, they should do that.”
Canberra Health Services maintains a list of non-emergency health options available in the city on its website.
