Ambulance Victoria
Ambulance Victoria (AV) aims to deliver outstanding emergency health care and improve the health of the community by:
- Providing safe, high-quality, timely and expert pre-hospital emergency patient care;
- Providing expert leadership and operational management in pre-hospital emergency health care, for emergencies resulting in injury or illness, or those with potential future health consequences;
- Planning for, responding to, and leading the pre-hospital health response to planned and unplanned events and emergencies (including major public events);
- Working with patients and people within communities to make informed decisions about their emergency health care;
- Collaborating with partner agencies to improve health outcomes for patients and communities.
AV’s obligations as a Statutory Authority (Ambulance Services Act 1986 (External link)) requires the service to:
- Respond rapidly to requests for help in a medical emergency;
- Provide specialised medical skills to maintain life and reduce injuries in emergency situations and while transporting patients;
- Provide safe, patient-centred and appropriate services;
- Provide specialised transport facilities to move people requiring emergency medical treatment;
- Provide services for which specialised medical, or transport skills are necessary;
- To foster continuous improvement in the quality and safety of the care and services we provide; and
- Foster public education in first aid.
Within this scope, AV will undertake their activities within the following core capabilities as described in the Victorian Preparedness Framework:
- Planning
- Community Information and Warnings
- Operational Management
- Intelligence and Information sharing
- Building Community Resilience
- Impact Assessment
- Search and Rescue
- Health Protection
- Health Emergency Response
- Relief assistance
- Built recovery
- Social recovery
- Assurance and learning
In order to provide greater awareness of the breadth of AV’s scope, the following explanation of this scope is provided:
Mitigation
Activity | Critical task alignment / activity source |
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AV will utilise a systematic process that engages pre-hospital health response partners and the community as appropriate to develop executable strategic, operational, and/or tactical level approaches to meet defined objectives for the pre-hospital health aspects of emergencies. Tasks: |
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Response (including Relief)
Activity | Critical task alignment / activity source |
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Lead Response Support Agency (RSA) for:
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Table 10: Support agencies for response |
Relief Lead Agency (RelLA) to coordinate pre-hospital care to people affected by emergencies. |
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Relief Support Agency (RelSA) to DH to coordinate other health and medical relief assistance measures |
Table 12: Relief coordination |
Lead Agency to restore, clear and rehabilitate public buildings and assets managed within AV’s portfolio |
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Community Information And WarningsAV will deliver public information and warnings that are authoritative, consistently constructed, and relevant for all Victorians and visitors for defined emergencies. Information will be, timely and tailored to support the affected community to make informed decisions before, during and after emergencies. Tasks: |
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2.5 |
Operational ManagementAV will establish and maintain a unified and coordinated Health Command operational structure that appropriately integrates all internal and external critical stakeholders. This structure will support the execution of core capabilities to meet objectives of the organisation and the control agency in managing and mitigating the pre-hospital health impacts and consequences of emergencies. Tasks: |
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3.2 |
Intelligence And Information SharingAV will provide timely, accurate, tailored, and actionable intelligence to relevant internal and external stakeholders by collecting, processing, and analysing multiple data sources including the assessment of pre-hospital risks and hazards. Tasks: |
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4.4 |
Building Community ResilienceAV aims to build community safety and resilience by working with communities and people at the local level. Tasks: |
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6.6 |
Impact AssessmentAV will provide relevant decision makers with appropriate information regarding the pre-hospital impacts of an incident, including the nature and extent of the hazard and any potential consequences during and after an emergency to ensure efficient, timely and appropriate support for communities. Tasks: |
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11.2 |
Search And RescueAV will support and participate in (where the appropriate skills exist with the organisation) traditional and atypical search and rescue capabilities with the goal of safely saving the greatest number of endangered lives in the shortest time possible. Tasks: |
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12.4 |
Health ProtectionAV supports the public health of Victorians by working with health authorities to mitigate and respond to the health impacts of notifiable diseases and other public health emergencies (including pandemic disease). Tasks: |
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13.5 |
Health Emergency ResponseAV leads and commands the planning, provisioning, response and coordination of pre-hospital and health emergency care (including for mass casualty incidents and emergencies with health consequences). This includes triage, treatment, and distribution of patients in a timely and structured manner, using all available resources to maximise positive health outcomes. Tasks: |
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3.2 |
Relief AssistanceAV supports the provision of well-coordinated, integrated, and timely assistance to meet the immediate health needs of affected communities, during and immediately after an emergency event. Tasks: |
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15.5 |
Recovery
Activity | Critical task alignment / activity source |
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Build RecoveryAV will work with stakeholders, control authorities and state/local government to restore or provide ambulance infrastructure and/or services in established or nominated safe areas during and following an emergency to support and benefit communities. Tasks: |
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19.8 |
Social RecoveryAV will support the longer-term provision of assistance and access to services that allows individuals, families, and communities to achieve an effective level of functioning after an emergency event. This includes engaging where appropriate with services designed to deliver on safety, security, shelter, health and psychosocial wellbeing and re-establishment of those elements of society necessary for well-being. Tasks: |
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Assurance and Learning
Activity | Critical task alignment / activity source |
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AV will support and undertake continuous quality improvement in emergency management practice and community safety by generating insights and knowledge from experience and research, reviewing community consequences and investigating relevant causes and outcomes as they relate to the pre-hospital response to an emergency, and translating learnings into improved practice. Tasks: |
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21.5 |