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Ambulance delays risk lives

By Yarrawonga Chronicle

Mar 19, 2025

Ambulance response times to Code 1 critical call-outs are risking people’s lives

Ambulances in 20 of Northern Victoria’s local government areas are failing to meet the target response time for Code 1 incidents.

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Code 1 is the most critical response to an incident with a target time of less than 15 minutes.

In 2023-24, ambulances in Moira Shire received 2,616 callouts to Code 1 incidents.

Just 54.1 per cent were responded to inside the 15-minute target with an average time of 17.01 minutes.

Less than one third of the 756 Code 1 calls in Indigo Shire were reached inside the target time with an average of 22.17 minutes.

Member for Northern Victoria, Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell requested independent advice from the Parliamentary Budget Office and said the report has shone a spotlight on the poor response times.

“In 2023-24 Ambulance Victoria met this target in just 20 per cent of regional local government areas, based on a weighted average response time calculated by the PBO,” Mrs Tyrrell said.

“The dedicated paramedics in Northern Victoria work so hard to save lives but they clearly need more resources to allow them to respond to Code 1 incidents quicker.

“Lives potentially are being lost … the State Government need to increase funding for more resources…”

Mrs Tyrrell said the slow response times in her electorate were unacceptable considering the report confirming that the Allan Government had cut funding to ambulance emergency services by 4.5% for the 2024-25 financial year.

To read the full report click here.