From July to September this year, only 28.2 per cent of Code 1 incidents were responded to in under 15 minutes, alarmingly lower than the state average of 82.3 per cent.
In the same quarter last year, 38.5 per cent of Code 1 incidents were responded to in under 15 minutes indicating that the situation is only getting worse.
The term ‘Code 1’ means an incident that requires urgent paramedic and hospital care, based on information available at time of call. Patients’ lives are more likely in danger and receive a “lights and sirens” response.
The latest data also shows the average time it took for ambulances to officially respond to a call in the region was 21 minutes and 28 seconds.
While the data suggests residents of more rural and remote areas experience greater waiting times, newly re-elected Indigo Shire councillor Bernard Gaffney said the latest report was concerning.
“Ambulance response times are not improving in Indigo Shire. This issue is obviously not going away and must remain a priority for council,” Mr Gaffney told The Free Press.
Previously Mr Gaffney has criticized the state government’s inaction on improving ambulance response times and called for an increase in resources across the shire, particularly in Rutherglen and Wahgunyah.
“Resources are stretched with one ambulance station. I’m not sure what cross-border arrangements are in place but there are anecdotal reports that some Rutherglen residents have had to wait over an hour for an ambulance from Wodonga to arrive,” he said.
Victorian Ambulance Union Generalecretary Danny Hill said a shortage of resources in areas such as Indigo Shire was putting excessive pressure on paramedics.
“Indigo Shire has notoriously had some of the longest ambulance response times in the state. Coupled with increasing workload I would expect delays to blow out further,” Mr Hill said.
“Members are reporting significant increases in workload in recent weeks leading to long response time delays and resourcing gaps.
“Each time there is a delayed response, a patient is put at risk.”
While the latest report paints a bleak picture for Indigo Shire, Ambulance Victoria stated that response times across the Hume Region were improving overall.
“Emergency ambulances were called to 3,982 Code 1 patients in July, August and September – 198 more than the previous quarter. We reached 67.6 per cent of those patients within 15 minutes,” Ambulance Victoria’s Hume Regional Director Trevor Weston said.
“At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ambulance Victoria improved its performance in Hume, despite an increase in demand.
“This occurred at the same time as paramedics were required to observe rigorous infection control measures, including fitting personal protective equipment and spending extended time decontaminating ambulances, in an endeavour to keep their patients and themselves safe.”
Ambulance Victoria states that while the response times published on a quarterly basis are important, the reports are only one of a number of measures used to gauge effective delivery of first responders with cross-border response data not taken into account.
“We are continuing to invest in a range of locally based initiatives, including installing more automated external defibrillators (AEDs), developing greater awareness of the benefits of CPR training and use of the GoodSAM app, that will improve survival rates for the most critically ill patients,” Mr Weston said.
“Our Ambulance Community Officers and Community Emergency Response teams provide crucial lifesaving treatment in the early minutes while paramedics are on their way.
“It is a model of care that is proven and successful based on workload and demand and operates in a number of branches in rural or remote parts of Victoria.”
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