South-Eastern Metropolitan Region
Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:49): (1520) My question is to the Minister for Health, and my question is: why are residents who are requiring urgent paramedic and hospital care code 1 in Casey and Greater Dandenong waiting longer for ambulance attendances than last year? While our highly skilled paramedics and first responders do a remarkable job providing the best care to our community, according to the figures released by Ambulance Victoria from October to December 2024, only 61.3 per cent of code 1 incidents in Casey were responded to within the target of 15 minutes. This is a drop from the 64.6 per cent in the same period for 2023. In addition, Dandenong saw an 8.2 per cent decrease in code 1 incidents within 15 minutes in the quarter from 2023–24. Demand for ambulance crews remains high. Ambulance Victoria is very busy and is now having to recruit from interstate, in New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory and New Zealand.