Ambulance Victoria has two official response time targets: Respond to Code 1 incidents within 15 minutes for 85% of incidents state-wide, and Respond to Code 1 incidents within 15 minutes for 90% of incidents in urban centres with populations greater than 7,500. Response times are an important measure of the service we provide, but are only one of a number of measures used to gauge the effective delivery of an ambulance service.
Our response times are measured from the receipt of the triple zero (000) call until paramedics arrive on scene. Response times are influenced by many factors including traffic, distance required to travel, availability of ambulances and demand for our services.
We designate those patients that require urgent paramedic and hospital care as "Code 1", and these patients receive a "lights and sirens" response. The tables provide information about our Code 1 response time performance by both Local Government Area (LGA) and Urban Centres and Localities (UCL). Code 2 incidents are acute, but not time critical and do not require a lights and sirens response. AV's average Code 2 response time performance has also been provided.
As part of our process of continual improvement, the response time performance shown below has been calculated using data sourced from the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system used across Victoria. UCLs : These are geographical areas based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics Urban Centres and Localities (UCLs) boundaries and residential population. Ambulance Victoria reports performance for larger UCLs where population exceeds 7,500 persons.
