Ambulance response times need to be budget priority

Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Region Melina Bath has called on the State Government to prioritise Ambulance Victoria in the state budget to decrease response times.

New data from Ambulance Victoria has shown code one response times have increased in the past five years.

In the year to March 31 2018, Baw Baw ambulances attended 72.9 per cent of code one emergencies within 15 minutes - in 2023 that figure has dropped to 60.1 per cent.

Baw Baw’s average response time was 16 minutes and 17 seconds in quarter three (January 1 to March 31 2023) and there were 859 first responses.

Ms Bath said the data demonstrated a slight increase in response times in Baw Baw compared to quarter three 2022 when the average response time was higher - at 16 minutes and 37 seconds - and there were 832 first responses.

Response times in neighbouring LGAs varied with Latrobe’s much closer to the target.

In the year to March 31, 2023, ambulances in Cardinia responded to 48.9 per cent of code one calls within 15 minutes, and Latrobe responded to 72.6 per cent, while Bass Coast was nearer to Baw Baw at 56 per cent.

Ms Bath said one in three Victorians were waiting too long for a paramedic in a code one emergency

“Alarmingly, the expected key performance indicator of 85 per cent of emergency responses within 15 minutes is not being met in any local government area in my electorate,” Ms Bath said.

“Despite the sustained efforts of our hardworking paramedics, ambulance call-out response times are not meeting the mark for code one emergencies.

“Building promised ambulance stations, updating vehicles, funding more paramedics and fixing chronically underfunded emergency departments must be a priority in the upcoming state budget.

“It’s unacceptable for Labor to continually fail sick and injured Victorians when they are at their most vulnerable,” she said.