Record low ambulance, surgery wait times

Member for Western Victoria Jaala Pulford has welcomed data showing ambulances are responding faster to life-threatening emergencies in Horsham Rural City, with elective surgery waiting lists at record lows.

Ms Pulford said latest health performance data showed the State Government’s major health funding boosts and reforms to Victoria’s ambulance system were delivering benefits to Horsham patients when they needed it most.

Data for Wimmera Health Care Group shows Horsham’s Wimmera Base Hospital:

• Admitted 2766 patients in the three months to the end of June, up by 114 admissions in the March quarter.

• Treated 3793 patients in the emergency department in the three months to the end of June – up from 3710 emergency presentations in the previous quarter.

• Treated 100 percent of category-one urgent patients immediately upon their arrival at the emergency department.

Ms Pulford said across the state, 83.8 percent of all Code One urgent ambulances were arriving at emergencies within 15 minutes.

“On average, ambulances arrived 11 minutes and 12 seconds after being called out – that’s 38 seconds faster than the same quarter one year prior and two minutes and 41 seconds faster than during the height of the ambulance crisis under the Coalition,” she said.

“In Horsham Rural City we are seeing more improvement, with the average time for an ambulance to reach the scene of a Code One emergency improving from 11:13 minutes in the June quarter last year to 10:49 minutes now.

“This is great news for Horsham patients. Ambulances are arriving faster at emergencies and hospitals are better equipped to give patients the high-quality care that they deserve.”

Victoria’s elective surgery waiting lists at June 30 had dropped to 36,096 patients, the lowest number on record.