Exclusive | Cold calls: Australia’s after-hours veterans helpline has long wait times, low connection rates
- The line failed to connect one in every three callers with a counsellor in 2016/17, and had delays of more than three minutes before answering calls
- The revelations come as advocates warn of a crisis in veteran suicides
Australia’s after-hours helpline for veterans struggling with suicidal thoughts and post-traumatic stress disorder failed to connect one in three callers with a counsellor, the Post can exclusively reveal.
The phone counselling service run by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) had an average call abandonment rate of over 35 per cent in 2016/17, previously unseen figures show – up from 26 per cent two years earlier.
Abandonment rates reflect cases where a caller hangs up before getting through, often because of a long wait time.
The data, released after a 14-month freedom of information battle involving two appeals, also reveals that average call wait times spiralled from almost 67 seconds to 174 seconds over the same period.
The United States’ Department of Veterans Affairs, which has also attracted controversy over high call abandonment rates, aims to have its primary helpline answer 90 per cent of calls within 30 seconds.