Central Victoria records some of Victoria's slowest ambulance response times in April - June 2018

Buloke and Loddon shires recorded some of the longest average response times in the state for ‘code one’ patients from April – June.

The average time for an ambulance to arrive at the scene of a code one emergency in Loddon shire improved in the past quarter, from 23.17 minutes to 21.29 minutes.

But response times slowed from 23.54 minutes to 28.25 minutes in Buloke during the same period.

Both Buloke and Loddon were among the local government areas with the lowest percentage of responses within 15 minutes, statewide. Others included West Wimmera shire, bordering South Australia.

Ambulances arrived at the scene of about a quarter of emergencies involving urgent patients within 15 minutes in Buloke and Loddon shires in the June quarter.

In the previous quarter, ambulances were with 40.9 per cent of code one patients in Buloke within 15 minutes of the call for help, and 31.5 per cent of urgent patients in Loddon.

“We want to provide the best care to every patient, every time,” Ambulance Victoria Loddon Mallee regional director Andy Roughton said.

“What we are committed to doing is ensuring we do meet our targets.”

INFOGRAPHIC: Ambulance Victoria response times: Central Victoria

He said there were particular challenges associated with servicing areas with smaller populations spread over larger geographical areas, which made it difficult to achieve similar responses to urban areas.

But Mr Roughton said the organisation needed to work on that, and would work tirelessly to improve its service.

Ambulance response times for code one patients improved in Campaspe, Central Goldfields, Greater Bendigo, Macedon Ranges and Mount Alexander shires in the June quarter.

Statewide, Ambulance Victoria recorded its best quarterly response performance since the organisation was created.

Paramedics responded to 83.8 per cent of code one patients across the state within 15 minutes.

The average ambulance response time for code one patients in Greater Bendigo from April – June was 11.20 minutes – an improvement on the 11.55 minutes recorded in the previous quarter. Paramedics were with semi-urgent, or code two, patients within an average of 23.32 minutes.

Buloke shire also recorded one of the slowest average response times for code two patients, with ambulances taking an average of 40.09 minutes to arrive at the scene.

That’s faster than the same time 12 months earlier, when the average response time was 42.39 minutes.

Gannawarra shire was also among the state’s slowest code two responses, with ambulances arriving within an average of 36.07 minutes.

Loddon was one of about 14 shires statewide in which ambulances would arrive to semi-urgent patients in 30 – 35 minutes.

Ambulances in Campaspe, Central Goldfields, Greater Bendigo, Macedon Ranges and Mount Alexander shires generally attended to code two patients within 15 – 30 minutes of receiving the call for help.

“We constantly review our performance,” Mr Roughton said.

The helipad at Bendigo Health opened towards the end of the June quarter.

Ambulance Victoria acting HEMS 3 team manager Brad Martin said being able to fly directly to the hospital was a significant time saver.

“We would now be saving 30 minutes at least in delivering these patients to the care they require,” he told  the Bendigo Advertiser earlier this week.

Patients can be transferred to Bendigo Health from the broader Loddon Mallee region, as has already happened four times since the helipad opened on June 27.

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