The Nationals Member for Euroa and Shadow Assistant Minister for Health, Annabelle Cleeland, has raised serious concerns about Victoria’s broken emergency health system, after new data – disclosed through a Freedom of Information request initiated by the Liberals and Nationals – exposed the true scale of ambulance failures being hidden by the Allan Labor Government.
The FOI request revealed Ambulance Victoria issued more than 200 Code Orange alerts in just the past 18 months – a staggering number for what is supposed to be a rare and urgent escalation.
A Code Orange is triggered when ambulance demand overwhelms the system, forcing paramedics and hospitals to juggle limited resources and delay critical care for patients.
“These alerts should be rare, but under Labor, they have become the norm,” Ms Cleeland said.
“During these incidents, some of our most vulnerable residents are left waiting hours for life-saving treatment. That is simply unacceptable.
“This is not just a staffing issue – this is a government that has failed to plan for demand, failed to invest in regional services, and failed to be transparent with the public about the extent of this crisis.”
Between September 2023 and March 2025, Ambulance Victoria repeatedly escalated to Code Orange status – some lasting over 15 hours.
The internal logs reveal repeated ambulance shortages, hospital ramping, and a system stretched beyond capacity.
Ambulance data paints a dire picture of delays at every stage of care.
Between January and March this year, just 54 per cent of ambulance arrivals at Albury Hospital were transferred into emergency department care within the 40-minute benchmark.
Other regional hospitals fared no better:
- Bendigo Hospital: 59%
- Northeast Health Wangaratta: 67%
- GV Health Shepparton: 53%
In regional Victoria, response times for urgent Code 1 incidents are falling well short of the 85% benchmark. In the Euroa electorate:
- Benalla met it just 59% of the time
- Mitchell: 52%
- Strathbogie: a dismal 37%
Greater Shepparton, Campaspe, and Greater Bendigo also failed to meet the target.
“These figures show the system is jammed from the moment a triple-zero call is made to when a patient is finally seen in hospital,” Ms Cleeland said.
“Our hardworking paramedics are doing everything they can – but Labor’s mismanagement has created a bottleneck at every point in the system.
“The result? Patients left in pain, families in panic, and lives put at risk.”
Shadow Minister for Health Georgie Crozier said under Labor the systemic failures within an overstretched emergency health system were having tragic consequences.
“Every second counts in an emergency, but under Labor the response times remain well under the Government’s own targets,” Ms Crozier said.
“Labor can’t manage money, can’t manage health and it is Victorians who are paying the price.”