Thursday, 1 February 2018

Ambulance response times continue to improve and more elective surgeries are being done on time than ever before, thanks to record investment in our health system by the Andrews Labor Government.

Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing today released the Victorian Health Services and Ambulance Victoria Performance Data for Quarter Two 2017-2018, which showed ambulances and our hospitals kept up with demand despite enduring Australia’s worst flu season.

The latest data finds that:

• 81.4 per cent of Code 1 ambulances are arriving within 15 minutes of call-out, compared with 76 per cent a year earlier and miles ahead of the 73.7 per cent from when the Liberals were last in government.
• Ambulances across the state are getting to life threatening emergencies more than a minute-and-a-quarter faster compared to last year’s result – at an average of 11 minutes 42 seconds.
• 47,911 elective surgeries were performed in the last quarter, 2,729 more surgeries than when the Liberals were last in power.
• 473,441 patients were admitted to hospital – the highest number ever recorded – exceeding admissions at the same time a year ago, when hospitals were hit hard by Victoria’s thunderstorm asthma event.

In the Latrobe City, we are seeing significant improvement, with 79.3 per cent of ambulances now arriving within 15 minutes for Code One emergencies, up from 68.9 per cent compared to a year earlier.

This means the average time for an ambulance to reach the scene of a Code One emergency in Latrobe over the same period has improved from 13:43 minutes to 11:34.

These results follow the Labor Government’s record funding boosts and major health reforms, which are delivering more ambulances more quickly, helping save lives.

A Productivity Commission Report released this week shows that Victoria is the only state in Australia to improve ambulance response times over the past year.

This is in stark contrast to the previous Liberal Government, which went to war with paramedics, ripped $1 billion out of our hospitals, and left Victoria as the worst performing state on the Australian mainland.

For Latrobe Regional Hospital, we are seeing positive results. The service:

• Admitted 9115 patients in the 3 months to the end of December – up from 8947 admissions in the same period a year earlier.
• Admitted 2937 emergency patients in the 3 months to the end of December – up from 2805 emergency admissions a year earlier.
• Saw 8937 patients who presented to the emergency department in the 3 months to the end of December – up from 8748 presentations in the December 2016 quarter.
• Treated 100% of Category 1 emergency patients immediately on arrival at the hospital ED in the 3 months to the end of December.
• Treated 84% of Category 2 patients within 10 minutes of arrival at the ED in the 3 months to the end of December – up from 66% in the previous quarter.
• Treated 76% of all emergency patients within the benchmark time in the 3 months to the end of December – up from 65% in the previous 3 months.
• Treated half of the hospital’s emergency department patients within 22 minutes – better than the 29-minute median in the previous three months.
• Completed the transfer of 88.1% of patients who arrived at the hospital in an ambulance in the December quarter within the target of 40 minutes, up on its 83% transfer rate in the previous 3 months.
• Reduced the number of patients on the elective surgery waiting list – from 1196 at the end of the December 2016 quarter to 1000 at the end of this December.
• Provided elective surgery to 100% of Category 1 urgent patients within the benchmark 30 days.
• Treated half of the hospital’s Category 1 elective surgery patients within 13 days – well under the 30-day benchmark.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Jill Hennessy

“Our reforms ensure that ambulances are able to focus on prioritising the Code 1 callouts and get the most ill and injured patients to hospital more quickly.”

“Under the Liberals, ambulance response times blew out to the worst on the Australian mainland and if ever given the chance they would once again cut health services and undermine our paramedics.”

Quotes attributable to Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing

“These strong results from our hospitals and ambulance service are more than just numbers – they represent more lives saved and people getting the care they need faster.”

“Victorians deserve nothing less than a health system that they and their loved ones can rely on when they need it and that’s what we’re delivering.”