INDIGO Council's mayor is hopeful the poor ambulance waiting times endured by his shire's sick will be tackled by the Victorian Government.
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Bernard Gaffney was commenting after meeting Ambulance Services Minister Jenny Mikakos for more than an hour in Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon.
"She was certainly aware that the code one emergency response time is the worst in Victoria," Cr Gaffney said.
"She advised that she wants to see equitable outcomes for all Victorians.
"She said she would look into the issues we raised on behalf of our community and in particular she would take a closer look at the allocation of funding for ambulance services in the particular the $300 million increase in the 2019-20 budget.
"She said she would look into it and get back to us after discussions with Ambulance Victoria; it was a very positive meeting."
Cr Gaffney's forum, which was brokered by Wangaratta-based MLC Tania Maxwell, followed ambulance data showing long waiting times for patients in Indigo Shire.
The most recent Indigo statistics for the June quarter showed 34.3 per cent of code one ambulances arrived within 15 minutes, up from 31.1 per cent in the same period last year.
Cr Gaffney said while there had been advances, he felt there was still a lack of equity in the provision of ambulances between country and metropolitan areas.
"I understand there's much further distances, but we certainly have not got the traffic congestion like you've got in Melbourne," he said.
When asked by The Border Mail about the minister's views on the ambulance waiting times in Indigo, Ms Mikakos' office did not respond specifically.
There was also no response to a question about when the minister expected to reply to Cr Gaffney after speaking to Ambulance Victoria.
"The minister was pleased to sit down and have productive discussions with Mr Gaffney over the ambulance services in the Indigo Shire," her spokesman said.
"The Andrews Labor government has repaired the ambulance crisis left behind by the Liberal Nationals, which saw a war on paramedics and response times the worst on the Australian mainland.
"We know there's more to do, which is why we're working closely with Ambulance Victoria to continue to improve ambulance response times in regional areas."