PARAMEDICS reached about a third of critically sick and injured patients in the Gannawarra Shire within the response-time target, according to the latest Ambulance Victoria performance data.
Loddon-Mallee regional and clinical operations director Matt McCrohan said performance improved in the July to September quarter, thanks to more paramedics, and people in the community accessing alternative and virtual-care services.
Mr McCrohan said Victorian ambulances attended 2002 more code 1 cases than a year ago, making it the fourth-busiest quarter ever.
“Despite this high demand, ambulances arrived at lights-and-sirens cases on average 23 seconds faster than a year ago and 52 seconds faster than the previous quarter,” he said.
“Our dedicated paramedics do an amazing job delivering world-class care and Victoria has the best cardiac-arrest survival rates in Australia.”
The average response time in the Gannawarra local government area was 23 minutes, 49 seconds, and 39.7 per cent of responses were within the target time of 15 minutes.
This was an improvement on last year’s average response time of 24 minutes, 18 seconds, and on the previous quarter’s 24 minutes, six seconds.
Performance in the Swan Hill urban centre, were paramedics attended 86.4 per cent of code 1 patients within 15 minutes, was the best in Victoria.
Code 1 response times in Buloke Shire improved by one minute and 39 seconds over the previous year.
Paramedics reached 33.3 per cent of code 1 patients within 15 minutes – up from 22.6 per cent a year earlier, the second-biggest improvement in the state.
From July to September, paramedics across Victoria responded to 66 per cent of code 1 cases within 15 minutes – up from 61.7 per cent for the previous three months and 64.3 per cent a year ago.
As a result, the statewide average response time to code 1 emergencies dropped to 15 minutes and 12 seconds.
Mr McCrohan said more paramedics were safely referring people to the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department, which supported patients to get the most appropriate care at home and eased pressure on the health system.
“This avoids unnecessary trips to hospital and helps us get back on the road quicker to attend more life-threating emergencies,” he said.
