Tuesday, 4 February 2020

Victoria’s public hospitals continue to see record demand with huge numbers of patients calling ambulances, attending emergency departments and being admitted to hospital from EDs over the past three months.

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Jenny Mikakos today released the hospital and ambulance performance data for the December quarter and thanked our hard-working doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical staff for their efforts caring for record numbers of patients.

Victorian emergency departments saw a record 479,163 patients this quarter while maintaining high levels of care, with 100 per cent of Category 1 presentations treated immediately on arrival – including in the Latrobe Valley.

Across the State, half of all ambulance transfers to hospital were completed within 23 minutes – well below the benchmark target of 40 minutes.

Victorian elective surgery patients are also being seen sooner than in anywhere else in Australia, with national data released today confirming our public hospitals are leading the nation when it comes to treatment time.

Latrobe Regional Hospital has continued to perform strongly in treating and caring for patients – providing operations to 100 per cent of the Category 1 urgent elective surgery patients within the benchmark 30 days, half of them within 12 days – a day faster than the previous quarter.

Despite seeing an extra 303 patients in the ED compared to the same quarter in 2018, 75.5 per cent of ambulance arrivals to ED were transferred within the benchmark 40 minutes – up 5.5 percent on the previous quarter.

The Andrews Labor Government’s reforms to outpatient and specialist clinics has also led to sustained improvement in wait times, with half of all urgent first appointments seen within 16 days – matching the record achieved last quarter.

Clinic visits have been boosted by the Labor Government’s $136.2 million investment in 500,000 specialist appointments in regional Victoria.

Victoria’s ambulances transported a massive 78,820 emergency patients in the three months to the end of December – 4,513 more than a year earlier. Paramedics reached 82.5 per cent of Code 1 cases across the state within the benchmark 15 minutes, with an average response time of 11 minutes and 29 seconds.

That’s nearly two minutes faster than the same period in 2014, when the Liberals’ war with paramedics saw just 74.1 per cent of ambulances arriving within 15 minutes.

In the City of Latrobe, 79.7 per cent of Code 1 ambulances arrived on scene within 15 minutes in the December quarter, up from 60.5 per cent under the Liberals.

Latrobe’s Code 1 ambulances arrived in an average 11 minutes 32 seconds compared to an average 15 minutes 35 over the same period.

This year, the Labor Government delivered a $2.5 billion boost to hospitals’ operating budgets and is getting on with delivering a huge $7 billion pipeline of hospital projects to back hospitals to do what they do best.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Jenny Mikakos

“I thank our dedicated doctors, nurses, paramedics and hospital staff who are caring for more patients than ever, with record numbers of ambulance call-outs, emergency department presentations and hospital admissions.”

“Victorians waiting for elective surgery are being seen sooner than anywhere else in Australia and our big boost to specialist appointments means more regional patients are getting specialist care closer to home.”

Quote attributable to Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing

“We’re so proud of our hardworking hospital staff and local paramedics who are reaching ill and injured Victorians four minutes faster on average than they did under the Liberals.”

“Our record investment into better healthcare is translating directly into improved performance and faster treatment for people when they need it most.”

“We’re so proud of our hardworking hospital staff and local paramedics who are reaching ill and injured Victorians four minutes faster on average than they did under the Liberals – our record investment into better healthcare is translating directly into improved performance and faster treatment for people when they need it most.”