Five new ambulances are ready to hit the ACT's streets, and will help to relieve increasing pressure on the ACT Ambulance Service.
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The ambulances, funded by $1.3million provided in the last budget, were handed over to the service at a ceremony today.
They will be backed up by 30 new front line ambulance positions and six communications staff, giving the service two additional crews working 24 hours.
Resourcing has repeatedly been identified as a major issue hindering the ACT Ambulance Service.
An Auditor-General's report in 2009 identified that the service was dangerously understaffed and was failing to meet response time targets and triple-0 call benchmarks.
In 2010, an external review conducted by the former head of the Tasmanian Ambulance Service, Grant Lennox, found that the service was struggling to cope with a wider and more intense scale of operation, and that the service needed more front line staff during peak periods.
Emergency Services Minister Simon Corbell said the new ambulances would help to plug the holes identified in both reviews.
"This is a very, very important investment for the ambulance service," Mr Corbell said.
"I'm very pleased they've been delivered on time and on budget, and what that means is extra resources for our ambulance service when people make that triple-0 call," he said.
Mr Corbell said the demand on the ambulance service continued to grow by 10 per cent every year.
He said that made continued investment in ambulance resources a priority for the government, but would not speculate on whether there would be new funding made available in the upcoming budget.
The service is currently undergoing a major reform process, also including ACT Fire and Rescue, the Rural Fire Service and the State Emergency Service, which will better position stations across the city.
The station relocation process is still in its early stages, but is expected to address significant response problems in new residential growth areas around west Belconnen.