Ambulance response times to urgent calls in Whittlesea and Hume have lengthened in the past five years.
An interim report on Ambulance Victoria’s service shows call-outs to Code-1 incidents requiring lights and sirens in Whittlesea stretched to an average of 14.37 minutes in 2013-14, up from 11.07 minutes in 2008-09.
The figures reveal that 64.97 per cent of Code-1 calls were responded to within 15 minutes. Five years ago, more than 85per cent of urgent incidents were reached within 15 minutes.
In Hume, almost 63per cent of Code-1 calls were responded to within 15 minutes, down from almost 80per cent in 2008-09.
Ambulance Victoria acting chief executive officer Tony Walker said that while a significant amount had been achieved since 2008, there was room for improvement.
“We acknowledge that there are issues we need to address, and this report highlights areas where we need to work harder,” he said.
“This includes the health and well-being of our workforce and our response times, which still have significant room for improvement.”
The report also found public demand for ambulance services in Victoria had risen by about five per cent each year in the past five years.
The report makes a number of recommendations, including reducing congestion at emergency departments, improving community awareness about when to call triple-0 for an ambulance, and improving collaboration with health services on emergency patient care.
Whittlesea paramedic Ward Young said the biggest growth in incidents had been in the burgeoning suburbs of Mernda and Doreen.
He attributed longer response times to population growth and the difficulties health services faced keeping up with demand.
“These growth corridors are a huge strain on not just ambulances but hospitals such as the Northern and the Austin,” he said.
