By Charlene Macaulay
Wyndham paramedics have shaved almost a minute off average emergency call-out response times in the past year.
New Ambulance Victoria figures show Wyndham’s paramedics are, on average, getting to the scenes of code 1 call-outs within 10.32 minutes from receipt of triple-0 calls – down from a response time of 11.21 minutes in the second quarter of the 2018-19 financial year.
In the three months to December 31, 2018, Wyndham paramedics attended 2103 code 1 incidents, which include patients that require urgent paramedic and hospital care.
The majority (88.3 per cent) of code 1 call-outs were responded to within 15 minutes, in line with the Ambulance Victoria target of 85 per cent of code 1 call-outs being responded to within that time.
Paramedics responded to 1504 code 2 call-outs in the same period, with an average response time of 21.03 minutes. Code 2 incidents include acute but not time-critical call-outs.
Ambulance Victoria chief executive Tony Walker said ongoing reforms throughout the organisation and investment in ambulance services – including the deployment of 450 new paramedics in the past three years – had helped improve performance.
“The simple fact that we have more paramedics on the ground is a significant contributor,” he said.
