Victoria's embattled triple-0 service will be renamed and its board disbanded as part of a state government overhaul, amid blown-out waiting times for critically ill patients and staff shortages.
The Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) will be rebadged as Triple Zero Victoria, with the government also pledging "major governance changes and reforms in relation to performance standards".
Former police commissioner Graham Ashton has been reviewing ESTA's performance, and said the agency had displayed "continued and systematic underperformance".
"The review established that internally ESTA, pre-October 2021, operated more as a corporate entity than an organisation delivering a critical emergency management service," Mr Ashton found.
The review, released on Thursday, was commissioned after numerous reports of ESTA's call system crashing, putting lives at risk.
At least 12 Victorians have died while waiting for an ambulance since October.
"Over its short history the number of times when the system has failed continues to grow, often with dire outcomes," the report reads.
Ambulance Victoria faced its busiest quarter in history during the first three months of the year as COVID-19 cases surged.
During that time, about one third of urgent code 1 ambulance patients waited more than the target time.
The demand rose from an average of about 2,000 calls per day in October 2020 to a peak of about 4,000 per day in January 2022.
New governance model to fall under government department
The government said it supported "in principle" the 20 recommendations made by Mr Ashton.
They include shifting the agency to be part of the Department of Justice and Community Safety, extra government funding for more staff, and changes to improve call-taking and responses.
The state government said the new governance model would improve the agency's links with police, paramedics and fire rescue services.
Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes said the government would consult with the existing ESTA board, emergency service organisations, unions and others to implement the changes.
"Victorians should have the confidence that when they call for help in an emergency, they will get it," she said.
Ms Symes said the urgent priority would be improving call-taking and dispatch, with governance changes and performance standards reforms "expected to follow in 2023".
Ms Symes acknowledged the work of ESTA's dedicated call-takers, dispatchers and other staff under "sustained, unprecedented and pandemic-related pressures", pressing the point that the government was backing the workers.
The government said ESTA's existing board would be replaced by a new advisory board, including members of police, ambulance and fire services.
Former chief executive Marty Smyth resigned from the role in the weeks after the review was announced and was replaced by interim leader Stephen Leane, a former Victoria Police assistant commissioner and ESTA board member.
Speaking on Thursday at the government's press conference, Mr Leane said "we've been doing everything we can" to meet community demand.
He said he had experienced the "upset" of unions and staff who felt they had been unable to do their jobs but said he was now "more than satisfied" the organisation had a good relationship with its workers.
Family of woman who died waiting for help welcomes review
Broder Lackmann, whose 32-year-old sister Christina died inside her home in April 2021 after calling triple-0 and waiting hours for help, said it was reassuring that steps were being taken to avoid similar tragedies occurring.
"It's one piece of the puzzle," he said.
"I think there's probably a range of things that need to happen to completely fix everything."
On that night in 2021, the cancer researcher told a triple-0 operator she had begun feeling dizzy while cooking dinner and was told she would be called back.
She waited 6 hours for an ambulance and was later found dead in her bathroom by paramedics.
When her brother checked her phone, he saw 10 missed calls from Ambulance Victoria.
The organisation later revealed two ambulances had been dispatched to help Christina, but both had been diverted to jobs deemed more serious.
Mr Lackmann said making it through the recent anniversary of his sister's death was hard, but it was "good to hear" action would be taken to improve the service as a result of the review.
"What … was evident to us that resulted in the misdiagnosis in my sister's situation has been addressed, so I'm quite buoyed by that," he said.
Opposition says report released 'under the cover' of election campaign
Opposition health spokesperson Georgie Crozier criticised the timing of the report's release.
"It's a disgrace that the government has the gall to do this, at this time, at such a late stage in the federal election campaign," she said.
"Under the cover of that campaign they are hiding this report, which has got many issues that should have been fixed years ago [and] demonstrates the extent of the mismanagement of triple-0."
She said the issues with the state's triple-0 service should have been addressed when they were first raised, years ago.
"Yet we've got the Andrews government that have sat on their hands and done nothing," she said.
"Victorians have tragically lost their lives while they've done that."
'Your ambulance is not a taxi'
Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said the issues with ESTA had resulted in resources being misdirected.
"If you look at the situation that we're in today, with ambulance crews going to a lot of very non-urgent cases, a lot of that comes about due to a very clunky and, at times, archaic call-taking and dispatch system," he said.
"So, being able to rapidly upgrade that and improve that as the situation changes is going to be really important."
Mr Hill said he was pleased the report didn't just say that more money needed to be invested in extra triple-0 staff.
"Clearly, there's going to need to be a long-term investment in more staff, but I'm pleased that the report doesn't just make those recommendations," he said.
"They actually look at how they get the most out of the service by improving its culture, improving its performance standards and making sure it ties in with other emergency services."
Ms Symes also encouraged people to consider contacting on-call nurses or their doctors if possible, instead of calling triple-0.
The government announced funding for about 120 new call-takers in March and confirmed in its budget earlier this month that $333 million was allocated to recruit a total of 400 new ESTA staff.
A second review into ESTA, conducted by inspector-general for emergency management Tony Pearce, is also underway.
Ms Symes defended the timing of the report's release, made public two days before the federal election.
"Today could look cynical, but it was not the intention. The intention was to get it out as soon as possible," she said.
Ms Symes confirmed she received the report in March. Senior ministers have faced questions from Opposition MPs about why it was not released earlier.
Ms Symes said since the government received the report it had been working with stakeholders and preparing a formal response to the Ashton review.
