Faqs
Who is ARV, or Adult Retrieval Victoria? (and what do they do?)
Adult Retrieval Victoria is a department of the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS). ARV provides:
- Telephone advice and assistance for critically ill patients
- Coordination and medical support of adult emergency medical retrieval services for critically ill patients
- Facilitated access to critical care units and critical care bed monitoring (including accessing private beds when no public beds are available)
What improvements will MAS introduce to the service?
Improvements to the adult retrieval service will be developed in a three-tiered process:
- Immediate (upon transition)
- Short Term (within twelve months)
- Long Term (three year service improvement plan)
Some of the initial improvements that have already been implemented include:
- Establishing centralised system governance
- Agreements between MAS and the Department of Human Services (DHS), regional retrieval services and Rural Ambulance Victoria (RAV)
- Establish consultative arrangements (RAV)
- Increasing management capacity of the service
- Improving critical care bed access arrangements
- Improvment communications arrangements
- Single phone number
- 24x7 call answer resourcing
- teleconferencing and Voice recording
What number do I call?
The number for adult retrieval services is 1300 36 86 61
When do I call Adult Retrieval Victoria?
ARV is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide clinical advice and/or coordinate and provide retrieval for critically ill patients.
If I am in a regional area with a patient in need of retrieval, who do I call?
MAS assumes responsibility for adult retrieval services across the state including regional Victoria. The number for adult retrieval services is 1300 36 86 61.
Who do I call if I have a trauma patient requiring retrieval?
For all trauma patients requiring retrieval contact 1800 700 001.
What is the difference between MAS, RAV, and Air Ambulance Victoria (AAV)?
Victoria has two ambulance services:
- MAS: Metropolitan Ambulance Service, which provides metropolitan emergency and non-emergency road transport within its metropolitan boundaries and also manages air ambulance resources across the state (through AAV)
- RAV: Rural Ambulance Victoria which provides regional emergency and non-emergency road transport.