Surprise ambulance data shows Perth ahead

Perth ambulances have been ranked close to the top in the nation on response times and cost efficiency, while WA hospitals have declined in performance.

It took less than 10 minutes on average for an ambulance to respond to a code 1 emergency in Perth, in the year to June 2022, according to the Productivity Commission’s latest scorecard on government health services released today.

Only Canberra has faster responses on average.

But responses have gradually slowed across the country, and Perth was no different, at an average of under 9 minutes a decade ago.

Nine out of 10 code 1 emergencies had an ambulance arrive in less than 21 minutes, also better than every jurisdiction except Canberra.

Those numbers come after a major debate last year about the role of St John Ambulance as an outsourced service provider in metro Perth, including a parliamentary inquiry.

Costs per person for ambulances in WA were also lower than every other state, at $131.30 per person.

That was 31 per cent below the national average.

But it wasn’t all good news for the state’s ambulance services, with workforce attrition higher than most other parts of the country, and a poorer survival rate for heart attacks.

Hospitals

The state government has been under pressure over the performance of the healthcare system.

That has included record-high levels of ambulance ramping, where the emergency vehicles are forced to wait with patients outside hospitals due to a lack of beds.

Troubles at Perth Children's Hospital have also been subject of intense scrutiny, including the tragic death of seven-year-old Aishwarya Aswath.

According to the Productivity Commission, waiting times for patients in emergency departments varied greatly by triage category.

Emergency-level care waiting times were shorter than the national standard of 10 minutes for about 69 per cent of patients.

That was better than the Australia-wide performance of 65 per cent, but a dramatic decline from a decade ago, when 81 per cent of WA emergency-level patients were seen in the 10-minute time limit.

Service for urgent care patients scored more poorly.

Only 33 per cent of urgent care patients visiting emergency departments were seen within 30 minutes. 

That was down from 52 per cent a decade ago and well below the national average of 58 per cent of patients.

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the state was the best-performing jurisdiction for emergency department stays of less than four hours, at 64.6 per cent, above the national average of 60.6 per cent.

“We are investing almost $378 million into improving access to emergency care in WA and we continue to discuss our primary care, aged care and NDIS needs with the federal government,” Ms Sanderson said.

Turnover for elective surgeries in hospitals was 80.1 per cent, just better than the national average, although lower than previous years.

Ms Sanderson said health service providers were taking action to reduce elective surgery waitlists.

“Last year, our health system, just like all health systems across the country, was challenged like never before.

“Factors including the Omicron outbreak, staff furloughing, sick leave, COVID-19 infection control protocols, and high rates of RSV added unprecedented pressures to the system.

“The McGowan Government has delivered 483 new hospital beds in an unprecedentedly short space of time, amid the pandemic and global construction workforce and supply challenges.

“This is the equivalent of opening a new tertiary hospital that would normally take around a decade to build, and we have delivered in record time.”

The government had also supported St John Ambulance with a multi-agency response team launched in May, which lifted priority one responses within 15 minutes from 84 per cent to 75 per cent.

“A new five year contract signed in December 2022 with (St John) will improve ambulance response capabilities and performance and brings St John in line with other public private partnership agreements,” Ms Sanderson said.

“The new contract includes funding for 31 additional paramedics in the regions and 34 additional paramedics in the metropolitan area and includes enhanced performance measures – enforceable through financial penalties.”