Ambulance response times leave regional communities exposed

The Nationals Member for Euroa, Annabelle Cleeland MP, has slammed new Ambulance Victoria performance data that reveals a system under extreme pressure, with response times to life threatening Code One emergencies continuing to deteriorate.

Only 64 per cent of Code One callouts across Victoria were reached within the 15 minute target over the past quarter, down from 65 per cent in the previous reporting period and continuing a troubling downward trend.

Ms Cleeland said across the region response times were more than double what families should expect in an emergency.

The average Code One response time is now 34.8 minutes in the Benalla region, 38.6 minutes in the Euroa region, 34 minutes in the Mitchell region and 31.7 minutes in the Campaspe region.

Ms Cleeland said the figures paint a clear and unacceptable picture of worsening emergency care in regional Victoria.

“Every minute counts in an emergency, yet families across our region are waiting longer and longer for the care they urgently need,” Ms Cleeland said.

“These are life or death situations. When response times are slipping this badly, it shows a system that is stretched beyond its limits and failing the people who rely on it most.”

The paramedics’ union has again warned that crews were being ramped for hours at hospitals, unable to respond to new emergencies while waiting to transfer patients.

Ms Cleeland said this had become a long running failure of the Allan Labor Government.

“Paramedics are exhausted, hospital ramps are clogged, and regional families are paying the price,” she said.

“This crisis has been building for years, and it keeps getting worse because the government has refused to fix the flow through hospitals.”

Ms Cleeland called on the Allan Labor Government to urgently invest in regional emergency care, improve patient flow in hospitals, and take immediate action to reduce ambulance ramping.

“Regional Victorians deserve the same chance of surviving a medical emergency as anyone in Melbourne,” Ms Cleeland said.

“It is clear the Allan Labor Government cannot manage our health services, and it is regional Victorians who are paying the price.”