WA’s Triple Zero (000) ambulance response best in the nation

• St John WA has the best Triple Zero (000) call answering and critical (P1) response times nationally.
• St John delivered its highest performance in a decade of calls answered under 10 seconds at 97.4 per cent.
• More WA incidents to Triple Zero (000) per 1000 head of population, higher than national rate in 2024-25.

Of all the capital state and territories’ ambulance services, St John WA has been found to have the best Triple Zero (000) call answering and critical response times across Perth and the whole state, according to the latest Report on Government Services (ROGS).

Western Australia had the lowest median Priority 1 (P1) response time for all capital cities at 10.1 minutes and the lowest median P1 response time statewide at 10.3 minutes despite more incidents being reported to Triple Zero (000) in 2024-25.

The incident rate per 1000 population increased 2 per cent in WA, while the national rate decreased 1 per cent.

St John delivered its highest performance in a decade of calls answered under 10 seconds at 97.4 per cent, with Ambulance Victoria next at 95.7 per cent, edging out South Australia Ambulance Service at 95.6 per cent.

St John also increased its paramedic witnessed cardiac arrest survival rate to hospital by 12 percentage points to 51 per cent, which now exceeds the national average (50 per cent).

The Council of Ambulance Authorities’ (CAA) Patient Experience Survey found WA patients’ overall satisfaction remained steady at 97 per cent – in line with the national average.

St John ranked first for helpful assistance by call takers at 97 per cent and comfortable ambulance rides at 98 per cent.

Of the survey’s 211 WA respondents, 60 per cent said ambulance arrived quicker than expected – second behind Victorian and Tasmanian respondents at 63 per cent each.

WA patients had one of the lowest average perceived reasonable wait times at 17 minutes, compared to 20 minutes nationally.

Group CEO Kevin Brown welcomed the results as a reflection of all the hard work being undertaken by every team member to create an excellent organisation, which is the best place to work.

“Our strategic outlook is to be exceptional across the board by 2030 with everything we are putting in place to serve the community but also to make it better for our team,” Mr Brown said.

“We champion these hard-fought wins because it’s a challenging environment to work within, but it is a meaningful one.

“I’m very proud of the whole team on the frontline and in support, who all work together to make this happen.”

Newly appointed Chief Emergency Officer Wil White agreed, saying it was pleasing to see service improvements which could be attributed to collaboration across the whole health ecosystem.

“Emergency ambulance is part of an important system with team members who do a phenomenal job day in and day out to care for the community, especially when they need it most,” Mr White said.

National P1 response times:

• WA (10.1 minutes)
• ACT (10.2 minutes)
• VIC (12.1 minutes)
• SA (13.4 minutes)
• NSW (13.9 minutes)
• QLD (14.6 minutes)
• TAS (15.2 minutes)
• NT (18.3 minutes)

Read the full ROGS Report here.

Read the full CAA Patient Experience Survey here.