Most of us would consider ourselves fortunate to make it through life without having to dial 000. After all, punching those three numbers into a phone generally means tragedy, terror or trauma.
But there are hundreds of thousands of people who don’t seem to treat the life-saving service quite so seriously.
In Victoria alone there were 94,000 calls to triple zero in 2015 that weren’t considered genuine emergencies. Calls that could have been more appropriately handed by other services, such as NurseOnCall or a simple visit to a GP. Calls that potentially put more vulnerable people at risk.
In response, the Victorian Goverment and Ambulance Victoria on Sunday launched a new advertising and social media campaign to educate the public about appropriate use of the number – “Save lives. Save 000 for emergencies”.
CEO of Ambulance Victoria, Tony Walker, told Mamamia it’s about ensuring resources can be properly distributed to those who need them most.
“We need to ensure ambulances are available for life-threatening emergencies, yet ambulances are too often called for people who do not need one,” he said.
“Paramedics across the state have been called to people whose cat has scratched them, or people who want a lift home from a night out. Paramedics are also called to less urgent cases such as someone who has hurt their shoulder playing football or someone who has a minor burn to their hand.”
Over the weekend, Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy spoke of cases in which a caller was unable to pass wind and another who had been having trouble sleeping.
Many who misuse the service, Walker argues, do so because of a simple misconception.
“Sometimes people think they will be seen quicker at hospital if they arrive by ambulance, but this simply isn’t true," Walker told Mamamia.
"The severity of your condition determines how quickly you are seen at hospital and that is decided by [an on-site] triage nurse."
In an effort to curb the number of needless call outs, more Triple Zero calls are being passed on to a secondary phone triage service. This allows the paramedics and nurses answering the calls to ask more detailed questions of the patient and refer them to a more appropriate health service or dispatch an ambulance if necessary.
(Post continues after podcast.)
Of course, Ambulance Victoria stresses, people should not feel discouraged from calling Triple Zero in times of need. This may include large burns, serious accidents or trauma, severe bleeding, difficulty breathing, extreme pain or unconsciousness.
“If you have chest pain, for example, then you should call Triple Zero but there are other times where you may be unwell or have a medical problem where another approach is more appropriate," he said.
"This could include visiting your GP, getting a family member, friend or colleague to drive you to hospital, or ringing Nurse on Call for advice."
Nurse on Call is a Victorian service that offers 24-hour over-the-phone medical advice from registered nurses. Phone 1300 60 60 24.
Healthdirect Australia offers a similar service nationwide via 1800 022 222.
As always, in an emergency, call 000 immediately.
Top Comments
The other side of things is when you're not taken seriously because of these crazy people and their bogus calls. My partner called an ambulance for me in the middle of the night once because what I now know is an arthritis flare up that happened in my lower back and pelvis. I was in my way to the toilet when it happened and I couldn't move from a standing up position with my weight distributed on just one leg and the pain was Extraordinary. I waited for ages for the pain to pass and after almost an hour in this position my partner called the ambos. I certainly didn't expect priority over life threatening cases but the person we spoke to clearly thought we were bogus and told us it would be hours before anyone arrived. We ended up saying don't worry about it and calling a family member who had opiate pain relief, who came over and gave it to me. I've given birth twice, I know what pain is and a severe arthritis flare up is the most painful thing I've been through. Now I know more I can recognise my symptoms better and shuffle into bed or sit on a lounge where I can wait out the pain with medication but back then I was scared, in pain without relief for hours and I wasn't taken seriously. It was awful.
Reminds me of a Friday night I spent in paediatric ER (drove there though) and this child came in with parents, grandparents and siblings, made noise, took up space and kids ran around (this is 10pm at night) He had a splinter. It was like this was the family entertainment for the evening. I was totally disgusted that the charge nurse didn't just throw them out and tell them to go to GP. Meanwhile, those of us with genuinely sick children had to put up with them.