Residents of Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs wait longer for ambulances to respond to code 1 emergency calls than people in eastern and south-eastern suburbs, according to leaked data.
The data reveals that response times to code 1 calls are becoming slower, and no area of Melbourne is reaching the desired target time of 15 minutes for 90 per cent of call-outs.
Code 1 refers to life-threatening conditions, such as serious car accidents, heart attacks, strokes, severe asthma attacks and the imminent birth of babies.
Ambulance Victoria refused to publish the 2013-14 data during an election year, arguing the information would cause public controversy and could have an adverse effect on morale and ambulance subscriptions.
A Melton paramedic, who asked not to be named, said it was “odd” that Ambulance Victoria refused to be transparent.
A spokesman for Health Minister David Davis said the “most recent data showed an improvement in response times”.
But the leaked data reveals otherwise. The western suburbs, which include Melton and Moorabool council areas, experienced an average waiting time of 20.28 minutes compared to 16.78 minutes in central Melbourne, 18.08 minutes in the south-eastern suburbs, and 19.42 minutes in the north-east.
Ambulance Victoria general manager Tony Walker said response times weren’t an accurate measure of their efficiency.
“Response times are only one measure of our service and can be affected by many factors, including traffic, road and weather conditions, distance required to travel and demand for our services,” he said.
