Numerous measures are used to gauge the performance and the effective delivery of Victoria’s ambulance services. Ambulance Victoria not only measures and reports on response times but also how our clinical interventions affect patients. We provide excellent clinical outcomes for our most time-critical patients including cardiac arrest, heart attack, major trauma and stroke patients, and we exceed our targets for quality and safety.
Independent Review into Workplace Equality
In late October 2020, public allegations emerged of serious and widespread discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation at Ambulance Victoria. Our Board Chair Ken Lay and CEO Tony Walker engaged the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to conduct an independent review of AV, focused broadly on workplace equality.
The nature, extent, drivers and impact of discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation experienced by current and former staff and volunteers;
The adequacy of measures to prevent and eliminate discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation in Ambulance Victoria;
Leading practice strategies to ensure a safe, equal and inclusive organisation that supports and promotes positive workplace systems, values and behaviours, in accordance with the Equal Opportunity Act;
Any other matters incidental to the Terms of Reference.
The review covers all Ambulance Victoria workers and volunteers, regardless of where they work in the business or the type of work they perform.
The review is expected to be completed by November 2021.
Health and Safety Strategy
Our Health and Safety Strategy details Ambulance Victoria’s plans to improve the health, safety and wellbeing of our people and describes the actions the organisation will take over three years from 2019 to 2022.
Ambulance Victoria continued to manage an unprecedented coronavirus (COVID-19) emergency response and its impacts on demand during 2020-2021. We responded to over one million incidents (1,022,590) in Victoria by road and air, up 4.3 per cent on the previous year.
Ambulance Victoria is responding more quickly to patients across all priority levels as a result of changes to better assess and meet the individual needs of Victorians.
Statements of Priorities are key accountability agreements between Government and Victorian publicly funded health, mental health and ambulance services.
The annual agreements support the delivery of or substantial progress towards the key shared objectives of quality and safety, good governance and leadership, access and timeliness, and financial sustainability.
Ambulance Victoria’s Statement of Priorities provides:
an overview of our service, strategic priorities and deliverables
Ambulance Victoria invited the Victorian Public Sector Commission to undertake an organisational capability review to ensure that we were well positioned to meet the future health emergency needs of the Victorian community.
We welcome the Review and support all its recommended priorities for action.
In Victoria, 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, road and weather conditions, distance required to travel, availability of ambulances and demand for our services. Each triple zero (000) call is assessed on clinical need. An ambulance is always prioritised to respond to the sickest patients first, especially those with life-threatening conditions.
Ambulance Victoria is committed to releasing response time performance data on a quarterly basis.
