Ambos to improve response times
AMBULANCE Victoria is striving to improve response times to emergencies in South Gippsland Shire.
The average response times of paramedics to Code One incidents from October to December 2017 was 18:51, above the average response time of 15:28 for the three months prior.
Nearly 49 per cent of incidents were responded to in less than 15 minutes. This is a four per cent improvement on the same period last year despite a 12 per cent increase in patients.
Paramedics attended 366 incidents from October to December, up from 345 the previous quarter.
Ambulance Victoria aims to respond to Code One incidents within 15 minutes for 85 per cent of incidents state-wide, and within 15 minutes for 90 per cent of incidents in centres with populations greater than 7500.
In Bass Coast Shire, paramedics’ average response time was 14:07 for September to December, down from 14:27 the previous quarter.
Paramedics responded to 66.7 per cent of Code One calls in less than 15 minutes, up from 62.6 per cent the previous quarter.
Simon Jemmett, regional director Gippsland for Ambulance Victoria, said, “Transformational reforms, significant investment in services and the Save 000 for Emergencies campaign are contributing to improved response times in South Gippsland and Bass Coast shires.
“We have more ambulances and paramedics available to respond more quickly to people who need our help, especially those who are seriously ill, following the full implementation of our revised Clinical Response Model 12 months ago.”
Mr Jemmett said each week, Ambulance Victoria receives hundreds of Triple Zero calls from people with less urgent health needs.
“By better assessing the individual needs of our patients through our referral service, we are able to provide those patients the most appropriate response and ensure ambulances are available for emergencies,” he said.
“We are also asking Victorians to Save 000 for emergencies. If we’re tied up with non-emergency calls, we’re not available for people in life-threatening, time-critical situations.”
Mr Jemmett said performance data can vary significantly from one quarter to the next according to seasonal effects and factors such as caseload, population density and location of incidents.
“We are encouraged by our improvement over the past 12 months and will keep working to continue to improve our service to patients,” he said.
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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Feb 6 2018. Filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
