General News
9 November, 2023
Ambulance response times improve locally
While paramedics are getting to critically ill patients in the Central Goldfields Shire (CGS) faster compared to last year, new data shows that ambulances in the region are continuing to fail their target response times. According to a report...
While paramedics are getting to critically ill patients in the Central Goldfields Shire (CGS) faster compared to last year, new data shows that ambulances in the region are continuing to fail their target response times.
According to a report recently released by Ambulance Victoria (AV), between July and September this year, 58.5 percent of incidents requiring urgent care in the shire were responded to by the emergency service within 15 minutes — with the average response time of 17.02 minutes.
Although the time from the receipt of the triple zero (000) call to the first ambulance arriving on scene reduced in the region by three minutes and 38 seconds compared to the same period in 2022, AV has still failed to meet its target of responding to 85 percent of incidents in 15 minutes or less.
However, in Maryborough, the numbers for similar Code 1 patients were better — with 72 percent of incidents responded to in the targeted time-frame with the average response time also dropping to 14.16.
Compared to neighbouring shires, CGS’ statistics also remained encouraging — in the Loddon Shire only 24.3 percent of cases were serviced within 15 minutes, and it totalled to 40.3 percent and 26.7 percent for the Mount Alexander and Pyrenees shires respectively.
Across Victoria, paramedics responded to 66 percent of Code 1 cases within the state-wide target of 15 minutes — up from 64.3 percent a year ago.
The Loddon Mallee Regional and Clinical operations director Matt McCrohan said that compared to a year ago, paramedics were getting to critical patients quicker in the area.
“July to September saw ambulances across Victoria called to 96,594 Code 1 cases — 2002 more than a year ago — making it the fourth busiest quarter in our history,” he said.
“Despite this high demand, ambulances arrived at [Code 1] cases on average 23 seconds faster than a year ago and 52 seconds faster than the previous quarter.
“Our dedicated paramedics do an amazing job delivering world-class care, and Victoria has the best cardiac arrest survival rates in Australia.”
Mr McCrohan said more paramedics were also safely referring people to the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED), which is supporting patients to get the most appropriate care at home and easing pressure on the whole health system.
“This avoids unnecessary trips to hospital and helps us get back on the road quicker to attend more life-threatening emergencies,” he said.
“Since October 2021, paramedics have referred more than 47,000 patients to the VVED, while a further 2500 have been referred to the VVED following assessment by our Secondary Triage team.”