MP Tim Quilty has urged the Victorian government to expand a scheme that will free up emergency services by allowing paramedics to do home visits.
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The member for Northern Victoria said he would continue to push for the scheme to expand to the North East to ease the load on hospitals and ambulances.
The HMS Collective, founded last year in the Macedon Ranges, is a group of highly qualified paramedics who provide medical attention for people who do not need to be taken to hospital.
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The scheme, which also has patients in Sunbury, Ballarat, Bendigo and Melbourne's north and west, has been found to reduce ambulance call out times by an average of 90 hours a week.
Mr Quilty said it was a "no-brainer" to extend the scheme to the North East.
"It means people get earlier attention in their homes while ambulances and hospitals can focus on emergency cases," Mr Quilty said.
"It also saves both public money and the money of patients who are required to pay more than $1800 in regional Victoria for a ride in an ambulance."
Modelled after successful schemes in Canada and the United Kingdom, the home visits prevent the over-use of ambulances and long wait times at emergency wards.
"For the last three years, I have been asking the government why areas such as Indigo Shire have the slowest ambulance response times in the state," Mr Quilty said.
"No adequate answers have been given. I asked for the Minister to meet with them back in February, and they were ignored. Since then, medical services in Victoria are being stretched beyond breaking point."
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