Community
22 May, 2025
Consistent response for paramedics
PARAMEDICS were kept busy to start the year, with new data revealing positive signs for lights and sirens responses in the south west.
Ambulance Victoria (AV) released its response time data for Q3 (January 1 – March 31, 2025) which showed Code One emergency responses to begin the year had been high while response times had maintained consistent.
In Moyne Shire, paramedics attended 37.2 per cent of Code One patients within 15 minutes – up from 33.2 per cent three months ago.
As a result, Code One response times decreased by one minute and 10 seconds.
The reduction came as paramedics responded to 234 incidents in Moyne, the highest result in the past year.
In the Corangamite Shire LGA, response times saw a slight increase with 38.1 per cent of Code One responses arriving within 15 minutes – down from the 42.8 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024/2025.
The average response time for Corangamite was 22 minutes, 15 seconds – which was still below the 22 minute 25 second average response from the first quarter.
Paramedics in Corangamite were kept busy with 270 responses throughout the quarter, the highest number of quarterly responses over the past year.
Barwon South West regional director Jerome Peyton acknowledged there was more work to do, but expressed optimism new paramedics and technological upgrades would bode well for improvement.
“We continue to work with our partners to ensure our paramedics and first responders are dispatched to the right patient at the right time,” he said.
“We welcome the new Standards for Safe and Timely Ambulance and Emergency Care for Victorians, which seek to improve system-wide patient flow so that patients can be transferred into a hospital in a timely way and paramedics are back on the road and responding to the community.
“Since last November, we have welcomed 119 new paramedics state-wide to our ranks including graduate paramedics and qualified paramedics from New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory and New Zealand.
“Meanwhile our largest single intake of 30 Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) intern paramedics hit the road earlier this year providing a significant boost to critical care across Victoria.
“We are also rolling out new digital radios across Regional Victoria and iPads to all our crews making it easier and faster to complete electronic patient care records and get back on the road quicker.”
Mr Peyton said the secondary triage team of nurses and paramedics was making a different in helping to connecting patients with the care they need while helping free up crews for patients in time-critical emergencies.
“From January to March, 43,858 people who did not need an emergency ambulance were instead connected to more appropriate care by paramedics and nurses in secondary triage,” he said.
“In 2023-24, paramedics referred nearly 43,000 patients to the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED), with over three quarters cared for without transport to a physical ED.
“And our Medium Acuity Transport Service (MATS) crews – dedicated for less-urgent calls – attended 7256 cases during the last quarter, freeing up more ambulances to respond to the most critically ill patients.”
Mr Peyton encouraged Victorians to do their part to ensure AV’s highly skilled paramedics were available for patients most in need.
“There are many options people can access when they need timely medical care and health advice but don’t need an emergency ambulance, including the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department and Urgent Care Centres,” Mr Peyton said.
“We know demand on our hard-working paramedics and first responders will rise as we head towards winter.
“That’s why we also urge Victorians to book in their annual flu vaccination, keep regular check-ups with your GP or specialist and stay home if unwell – we can all help to protect ourselves and people most at risk in the community.”
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