Life-threatening code one calls for ambulances in the City of Greater Shepparton area have increased by 16.9 per cent on the same time last year, according to the latest figures released by Ambulance Victoria.
While the number of calls were up during the October to December 2021 quarter compared to the same time the previous year, response times in City of Greater Shepparton were also longer than the same time for the previous year.
Paramedics attended 73.2 per cent of life-threatening code one patients in the region within 15 minutes — compared with 81.7 per cent for the same period in 2020.
The average response time to code one patients in the local government area was 14 minutes and two seconds.
Response times were faster in the major population centre of Shepparton-Mooroopna with ambulances reaching 79.6 per cent of code one patients within 15 minutes, with an average response time of 13 minutes and 14 seconds.
Ambulance Victoria Hume acting regional director Dale Armstrong said the latest performance data for the second quarter of 2021-22 showed the COVID-19 pandemic continued to place unprecedented and sustained pressure on the entire health system.
The data shows paramedics across Victoria were called to 91,397 code one cases between October and December, a 16.2 per cent increase on the same time in 2020 — and the most code one cases in a quarter ever.
In the quarter, 66.5 per cent of code one cases were responded to within 15 minutes, with a state-wide average response time of 15 minutes and 11 seconds.
Ambulance Victoria chief executive Tony Walker said the record workload and slower response times were no surprise given the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, right across the state and Australia.
“During the last quarter we were challenged by the peak of the Delta wave, the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant,” he said.
“Performance has also been impacted by the time spent offloading patients at busy hospitals and sicker patients who have delayed visiting their GP or specialist now finding themselves more unwell.’’
Prof Walker said paramedics were under increasing pressure due to fatigue and record workload, wearing PPE to all cases and furloughing due to COVID-19 exposure, reducing staff and ambulance availability.
“Ambulance Victoria is doing everything possible to relieve pressure in the system and get more paramedics back on the road and to patients quicker, however this was challenging given the unprecedented demand,” he said.
The region’s residents are also being urged to save 000 calls for emergencies only with as many as one-in-five calls to 000 for an ambulance in Victoria not actually needing an emergency ambulance.
“There are lots of places to get health advice — that isn’t 000,’’ Mr Armstrong said.
“If it is non-life-threatening, GPs and pharmacists can provide timely non-urgent care.
“Nurse-On-Call (1300 606 024) is a great service and offers free medical advice 24 hours a day, seven days a week.’’