Ambulance Response Times

Shadow Minister for Health, Mary Wooldridge

Before the last election, Daniel Andrews claimed ambulance response times were in crisis and said he would fix it.
After nearly two years as Premier, he is nowhere near his target, with response times similar to what they were under the previous government when Daniel Andrews claimed it was a crisis.
Patients in regional Victoria are still particularly disadvantaged with response times well below targets.  The report released today shows that 21 regional and rural Local Government Areas are not even meeting response time targets half of the time.
The Annual Report shows that fewer patients are being transferred within 40 minutes from the ambulance to the emergency department compared to last year.
The Department of Health and Human Services report reveals an Ambulance Victoria budget blowout of over $60 million, but despite this Daniel Andrews is not improving ambulance services commensurate with the increase in funding.
This report details that the crime tsunami sweeping across Victoria is also impacting on ambulance officers with a staggering average of 10 violent incidents every week.

Media contact:  James Duncan   0457 758 018            james.duncan@opposition.vic.gov.au