Ambulance Victoria’s ‘concerning’ regional emergency response times

Shocking statistics show regional Victorians in five LGAs have a less than one in three chance of receiving an ambulance on time in an emergency.

Ambulance Victoria’s response time data, released this month, is the second worst it has ever reported, Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill says. Picture: Stephen Harman

Tens of thousands of regional Victorians have a less than one-in-three chance of receiving an ambulance on time in an emergency, the latest ambulance response time data has revealed.

The data, released this month by Ambulance Victoria, showed in five local government areas with a combined population of 75,000 — Pyrenees, Golden Plains, Strathbogie, Indigo and Murrundindi — less than 30 per cent of calls for help in a Code 1 (lights and sirens) medical emergency received an ambulance within 15 minutes.

Ambulance Victoria’s official response time target is to respond to 85 per cent of Code 1 incidents within 15 minutes.

Rural mayors told The Weekly Times the issues stemmed from dilapidated roads, towns without sufficient ambulance crews, and underfunded health services.

Strathbogie mayor Laura Binks said the figures were “really concerning”. In her area, just 25.5 per cent of calls for help in her area received an ambulance in 15 minutes, down from 28.2 per cent last year.

Strathbogie Shire mayor Laura Binks. Picture: Supplied

Cr Binks said dilapidated roads in the region were slowing down traffic, and called for state and federal help to fix an estimated $50 million worth of repairs after record flooding last year.

In Pyrenees Shire, which encompasses the towns of Beaufort and Avoca, west of Ballarat, just 23 per cent of people with life-threatening emergencies received an ambulance within 15 minutes of calling for help last quarter — the lowest in the state.

Pyrenees Shire Council mayor Ron Eason said the town of Avoca had only one ambulance and if it was busy transporting a patient on the 90-minute round trip to the nearest major hospital at Ballarat, the nearest ambulance crew was 25 minutes away at Maryborough.

In the fast-growing Golden Plains, north of Geelong, where just 24 per cent of urgent calls received an on-time response, mayor Brett Cunningham said the north of the shire did not have a dedicated ambulance station.

In Murrindindi, where just 27.7 per cent of Code 1 cases got an ambulance in 15 minutes, mayor John Walsh said a police, ambulance and clinical early response unit was needed to alleviate emergency department presentations.

Murrindindi Shire mayor John Walsh says his area needs a police, ambulance and clinical early response unit to take pressure off emergency services.

A Victorian government spokesperson said the government had put “an additional 2200 paramedics on the road”, delivered new ambulance branches and established nine Priority Primary Care Centres in regional Victoria since it came to office.

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the government had failed to explain why response times had gone backwards despite its investments.

Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said the latest ambulance response time data was Victoria’s second worst on record.

Across the state, the percentage of Code 1 health emergencies that received an ambulance within 15 minutes fell to 61.7 per cent in the three months to 30 June this year, down from 64 per cent in the three months to 30 June last year.

Mr Hill said Victoria needed a more efficient screening system to reduce the number of non-urgent cases his members were inappropriately dispatched to.

An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said it was “using the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department to help avoid unnecessary trips to our emergency departments”.

To address rising demand, 45 out of 118 new paramedic recruits would be based out of rural branches, the spokesperson said.