I AM writing to express my sincerely displeasure at an advertisement run on page 7 of the News last week. The large advertisement for The Valley Private Hospital in Mulgrave purports to encourage readers to ring 000 for an “ouch” and ask to be taken to TVPH for treatment.
This kind of advertising strongly encourages the misuse of ambulance resources, in a time when the ambulance service is already under immense pressure to deal with its current workload. Advertising 000 for the treatment of an “ouch” is bordering of the false reporting of an emergency. Emergency ambulances and emergency departments are for life-threatening emergencies. If the general public were to be encouraged to use them for such, then delays and ramping of ambulances could be greatly minimised.
Interestingly, the advertisement fails to mention the out-of-pocket costs associated with a trip to Emergency at The Valley, regardless of your level of private health cover.
I feel that this kind of advertisement is a disgrace and the fact it is printed in your newspaper is very disappointing and in poor taste.
Shannon Davey,
Narre Warren.
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