Wednesday, 16 August 2023

Northern Victoria Region ambulance services

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:43): (396) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Ambulance Services regarding the concerning code 1 response times recently released for quarter 4 2022–23, particularly in Northern Victoria. The action that I seek is for the minister to immediately allocate additional paramedics and any other necessary vehicles or equipment to ensure Ambulance Victoria response times for code 1 incidents in Northern Victoria can be met.

In medical emergencies the time it takes for a patient to receive treatment is critical to their health outcome. That is why Ambulance Victoria use two official response time targets to measure their service performance, both involving attendance time to code 1 call-outs. The targets are that Ambulance Victoria respond to code 1 incidents within 15 minutes for 85 per cent of incidents statewide and within 15 minutes for 90 per cent of code 1 incidents in centres with populations greater than 7500 people.

The code 1 response time data recently released by Ambulance Victoria shows that the service is currently failing to meet these targets, with the worst results occurring in regional Victoria. In five regional local government areas, three of which are in my electorate, less than 30 per cent of calls of a code 1 medical emergency received an ambulance within 15 minutes. In Strathbogie shire only 25.5 per cent of code 1 calls received an ambulance within 15 minutes. That means almost 75 per cent of call-outs failed to reach the patient within the target time. In Indigo shire just 26.9 per cent of code 1 calls received an ambulance within the target response time of 15 minutes, meaning more than 73 per cent of call-outs failed to meet the target time for attendance. In the Murrindindi shire only 27.7 per cent of urgent calls arrived within the target time frame, meaning more than 72 per cent failed to meet the target for attendance. The Pyrenees shire recorded the worst response times in Victoria, with just 23 per cent of code 1 calls receiving an ambulance within 15 minutes, and in Golden Plains the result was just 24 per cent for these communities. Up to 77 per cent of all call-outs failed to meet the target. Considering the response targets for code 1 calls are 85 per cent statewide and 90 per cent in centres with a population greater than 7500 to actually meet the target of 15 minutes, this latest data highlights the epic failure of the Andrews Labor government to adequately resource our regional ambulance services.

Ambulance Victoria boasts the most highly trained and dedicated paramedics in Australia, but the simple fact is our paramedics are overworked and under-resourced. Only last week I was contacted by a constituent, who reported that her husband was forced to wait an hour and three-quarters for an ambulance after suddenly collapsing at home. (Time expired)