Ambulance Victoria has been ordered to release response times for people having heart attacks, after Victoria’s freedom of information commissioner rejected claims it would lead people to put their lives at risk by driving themselves to hospital.
The service has, however, 60 days to appeal the decision to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, making it unlikely the data will be released before next month’s state election.
In a judgment dated September 30, Freedom of Information Commissioner Lynne Bertolini upheld an appeal by the paramedics’ union against an Ambulance Victoria decision to refuse access to the data.
Ambulance Victoria claimed the data was likely to be misrepresented in media reports, causing a loss of confidence in the service and a decline in revenue from subscriptions.