At a public meeting last week, Member for Murray Helen Dalton encouraged the community to “get vocal” so the ambulance station becomes a priority for the Minns Government, especially in the lead-up to the next election.
More than 100 people gathered in the Tocumwal Memorial Hall for the meeting, which was attended by Mrs Dalton, and Berrigan Shire representatives including Deputy Mayor Carly Marriott, Crs Matt Hannan and Ted Hatty, and CEO Karina Ewer.
They are all frustrated there has been no response following a meeting with NSW Health Minister Ryan Park and emergency service agencies in August, seeking timelines for establishment of the ambulance station.
The need for a station was reviewed in 2020 after advocacy from the Tocumwal Ambulance Steering Committee.
A report was prepared and handed to then Minister for Emergency Services Brad Hazzard, outlining the first responder model currently in use for Tocumwal was even then at the very limits of its capacity.
Since that time, Berrigan Shire Council has updated the modelling for population growth and the statistics point strongly toward the need to review that report.
“We know Tocumwal is growing much faster than previous modelling suggested,” Cr Marriott said.
“We have provided that proof to Minister Park but have yet to be provided a concrete response as to when the report will be reviewed and a timeline for the establishment of an ambulance in Tocumwal provided,” she said.
At its November meeting in a fortnight, council will consider developing its own business case to underpin the work of the steering committee.
“It seems clear to council the community needs a fully operational ambulance station. Neither council, nor the community, continue to tolerate near misses; people are angry and rightly so.
“We believe strongly an ambulance station in Tocumwal is simply asking for equitable access to emergency medical care.”
Last week’s meeting was organised to keep the campaign moving forward following the lack of government response.
In the lead up, Berrigan Shire Mayor Julia Cornwell McKean said council was also lobbying for cross border emergency call handling to be improved in the meantime.
She initially believed the August meeting with Minister Park had been “productive”, especially after he directed Ambulance NSW to look into the situation at Tocumwal, but said earlier this month: “We’ve had nothing back on that yet; I followed that up only last week. I have also written to both the Victorian and NSW cross border commissioners around the operational restrictions with the current cross border arrangements, as has been highlighted by the Victorian Ambulance Union.”
The concerns relate mainly to the double handling of calls, which Cr Cornwell McKean said could impact border communities like Tocumwal.
The Victorian Ambulance Union has spearheaded the campaign to have the cross border arrangements streamlined, after reports of alleged “misrouting” of calls.
“Ambulance Victoria provide cross-border emergency response in some NSW towns that do not have their own ambulance nearby,” the union said in a statement.
“Previously, calls from these locations would be automatically routed to Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) and responded to by the nearest Victorian resource.
“However, members have reported significant delays in call handling, due to calls from these locations being misrouted to NSW Ambulance Service who have no nearby resources of their own and cannot dispatch Victorian resources that previously service these towns.
“This means NSW Ambulance Service (or the callers themselves, according to Cr Cornwell McKean’s own experiences) are required to take case details and then manually contact ESTA by dialling 000 to create a new case.
“This leads to unnecessary duplication and delays in dispatch of an emergency ambulance putting the cross-border community at significant risk of unnecessary delays.”
Without a dedicated station in Tocumwal, paramedics are usually dispatched from Finley, Berrigan or Cobram to cater to medical needs as required.
Ambulances may also be sent from other nearby communities based on availability.
Without any paramedics in the town, the Tocumwal Fire + Rescue NSW firefighters have been accredited as first responders.
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