Victorian ambulance response times increase in 2021

The average time regional Victorians spend waiting for an ambulance is getting longer. See what response times are like in your area.

Victorian ambulance wait times have increased on this time last year, with the health system experiencing unprecedented demand.

Ambulance wait times in regional Victoria are on average five minutes longer than in metro areas.

And only three areas saw a decrease in response times since the same time last year.

That’s according to the latest quarterly performance data released by Ambulance Victoria, which shows the average time for responding to code one incidents across the state was 13:19 minutes.

Code one incidents are categorised as those that require urgent hospital and paramedic care and are responded to with lights and sirens.

The average response time in metro Melbourne was 12:24 mins while in regional areas the average was 17:34 mins.

Mansfield (28:17 mins), Towong (26:13 mins) and West Wimmera (25:23 mins) had the three slowest response times in the state.

The towns that saw the biggest increase in response times year-on-year were Alpine (4:19 mins), Moira (4:10 mins) and Towong (3:50 mins).

See how your LGA compares year-on-year and against other areas here:

An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said current levels of patient demand were at their highest in 15 years.

“The Victorian healthcare system, like the public health system across Australia, is experiencing enormous pressure at present and Ambulance Victoria is not immune to this,” she said.

The spokeswoman welcomed the Victorian Government’s recent announcement of a $759 million package for ambulances and hospitals to cope with the increased demand.

“The package will address this growing demand by delivering more paramedics, more triage care and support staff for Ambulance Victoria, as well as targeted funding to improve flow in our busy emergency departments – including in rural and regional Victoria,” she said.

State Member for Eildon Cindy McLeish said she was concerned by Mansfield’s results and called on the State Government to help struggling paramedics.

“I understand the difficulties Mansfield ambulances experience in achieving under 15-minute response times, due to sheer distance and rugged terrain, which is why the government needs to better support our regional towns and emergency services,” she said.

“On top of that the Labor Government continues to ignore much needed improvements to Mansfield’s ambulance station and emergency precinct.

“They are operating from an outdated station that is too small and inefficient. Providing this growing regional area with a new ambulance facility would greatly benefit the Mansfield community and paramedics.”

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