Ambulance chief’s top priority after concerning target shortfall

Ambulances are failing to reach urgent priority patients within 15 minutes in more than a third of cases, concerning new figures reveal.

New quarterly data shows only 64 per cent of priority code one patients were reached within Ambulance Victoria’s 15-minute target timeframe.

Meanwhile, more than 40 per cent of people taken to hospital by ambulance waited more than 40 minutes to be admitted.

Interim chief executive of Ambulance Victoria, Felicity Topp, says “it’s going to take multiple ideas” to fix Victoria’s ailing health system.

Ms Topp says staffing across the entire health system should be the top priority to ease the strain.

“Our workforce is critically low not only with COVID but with other illnesses ad we have had vacancies across a number of health services as a result of recruitment being difficult during the height of the pandemic,” she told Neil Mitchell.

“I think we need to recruit more people to accommodate the new models of care.”

Press PLAY below to hear what the interim Ambulance Victoria CEO says must happen immediately