Wait times for ambulance are the best in the nation: CAA patient survey

• Patient satisfaction over wait times for a St John WA ambulance rose to 71 per cent, well ahead of national average (63 per cent).
• Triple Zero (000) call takers in the State Control Centre also saw an increase in satisfaction in time taken to respond, with 96 per cent of patients finding helpful the assistance provided.
• Overall satisfaction for SJWA remained high and in line with the national average of 97 per cent.

Patient satisfaction over wait times for a St John WA (SJWA) ambulance well exceeded the national average, according to the Council of Ambulance Authorities’ (CAA) latest Patient Experience Survey Report.

Satisfaction over wait times, which averaged 17 minutes across all the priorities, rose 2 per cent since last year to 71 per cent, well ahead of the national average of 63 per cent.

WA response times came ahead of every state and territory, as well as New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, where maximum wait times reached up to seven hours in Queensland as compared to one hour in WA – which spans 2.5 million square kilometres and is the largest landmass of any ambulance jurisdiction.

SJWA’s Triple Zero (000) call takers in the State Control Centre (SCC) also continued to deliver impressive results for a second year in a row, exceeding all other ambulance jurisdictions covered by the CAA.

The satisfaction with the time taken to be connected was 72 per cent, ahead of the national average of 67 per cent, with 96 per cent of patients finding helpful the assistance provided by call takers.

The results come in the wake of SCC call takers celebrating 100 per cent of call answered within 10 seconds during the year leading to an annual average of 97.4 per cent of calls answered within the 10-second benchmark.

Overall satisfaction for SJWA remained high and in line with the national average of 97 per cent, with one patient reporting: “Staff were calm and friendly. Medical response was prompt and appropriate for my daughter’s condition.”

Visit here for more results: https://www.caa.net.au/patient-experience-survey