Ambulance response time improves in Baw Baw

The average response time for an ambulance to reach the scene of a Code One emergency in the Baw Baw Shire has improved from 18:06 minutes to 15:31 minutes.

Ambulances are responding faster to life threatening medical emergencies in Baw Baw Shire despite massive demand from one of Victoria’s worst-ever flu seasons, with the best quarter one response time in eight years across Victoria.

Ambulances across the state were getting to life threatening emergencies 35 seconds faster compared to last year, with 79.5 per cent of Code One callouts arriving within the target 15 minutes despite a horrific flu season.

This means Code One ambulances are now arriving one minute and 34 seconds faster compared to this quarter three years ago, when response times under the Liberals blew out to the worst September quarter on record.

In the Baw Baw Shire, response times are improving, with 58.3 per cent of ambulances now arriving within 15 minutes for Code One emergencies, up from 52.9 per cent compared to the same time last year.

This year’s flu season put significant pressure on our hospitals, with respiratory presentations to emergency departments almost 20 per cent higher than for the same time last year.

A record 454,018 patients attended Victorian hospital emergency departments this quarter, putting unprecedented demand on emergency services with an increase of 32,486 patients or 7.7 per cent compared to last year.

Despite this intense pressure, data shows hospitals are working more efficiently, with the most urgent cases being treated sooner.

Last quarter, the highest percentage of patients across all categories received their surgeries within benchmarks for timeliness for a first quarter. This meant median wait times for category three patients reduced by more than six weeks since the same time four years ago.

Locally, West Gippsland Healthcare Warragul has:

Seen 5965 people in emergency between July and September 2017 compared to 5372 in the same period in 2016.

Treated 100 per cent of the 11 category one emergency patients immediately on arrival between July and September 2017.

Received 1146 ambulance arrivals in the September quarter compared to 962 for the same period in 2016.

Provided operations for 95.7 per cent of all elective surgery patients within the benchmark times in the September quarter, compared to 82.8 per cent for the same period in 2016.

Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing said reforms and investment meant ambulance response times improved despite big increases to call-outs in Baw Baw Shire.

A retrospective planning permit is being sought to breed dogs and kennel them on a property at Yarragon South.

The applicants N and A. Kleiitz state in their application to Baw Baw Shire that they have owned and lived on the property on Earls Rd since 1989 and Mrs Kleititz has bred King Charles spaniels there for much of that time.

The application states the dog breeding is not a commercial operation but a hobby for Mrs Kleinitiz who exhibits the animals at shows throughout Australia.

A permit is required under the shire’s planning scheme if more than five animals are kept on the property.

The proposal is for a maximum of 20 dogs to be kept there in already established kennels and enclosures.

The application stresses the operation is not a puppy farm or commercial breeding establishment and that dogs that aren’t kept by the owners are sold at eight weeks of age or desexed and sold at six months.

It also says the kennels have been in use for many years without impacting neighbouring properties and is a permitted land use in the rural area.