WA quickest state for a life-threatening emergency response

• New figures have revealed St John WA delivered the second-fastest median response time to a life-threatening emergency in Australia – behind only the ACT – with most Priority 1 responses under 11 minutes in FY21-22,
• The annual Productivity Commission Report on Government Services also showed St John WA was the only ambulance provider to improve the number of Triple Zero (000) calls answered in 10 seconds or less,
• Ninety-five per cent of the 565 patients surveyed were more than satisfied with its ambulance service.

St John WA outperformed most Australian ambulance services in emergency response times to life-threatening cases, the latest Report on Government Services (RoGS) has revealed.

The fresh figures confirmed St John WA’s long-held reputation for answering Triple Zero (000) calls promptly and dispatching ambulances quickly.

In welcoming the report, St John Executive Director of Ambulance Operations Deon Brink acknowledged St John strives to do better and continually improve services.

“It’s heartening 95 per cent of West Australians are more than satisfied with its ambulance service, which is testament to the frontline workforce of country and metropolitan operations,” Mr Brink said.

St John WA was the only state ambulance provider to improve the number of Triple Zero (000) calls answered in 10 seconds or less – increasing the percentage answered by 3 per cent to 87 per cent in FY21-22 while the nation fell 10 per cent to 81 per cent.

WA had the fastest response to a life-threatening emergency behind only the Australian Capital Territory, responding to 90 per cent of its Priority 1 jobs between 20.8 minutes in the Perth metro area and 21.5 minutes state-wide.

Other key figures included:

• Lowest median P1 response time for capital cities outside the ACT of 10.4 minutes and state-wide of 10.3 minutes,
• An increase of 12.3 per cent in the AHPRA-registered paramedic workforce to 1606,
• An increase in total response volumes of 6.7 per cent to 510,295.

“St John WA is a unique model which draws pride from its strong volunteer base and first aid empowerment of community first responders to answer the challenge of servicing remote communities scattered across almost a third of Australia’s land mass,” Mr Brink said.

“For more than 20 years the Productivity Commission annual figures shown St John delivers the lowest cost to Government per head of population in Australia.”

He said ambulance clinicians were able to continue exceeding patients’ expectations for phone answering and ambulance arrival times in part to an increase to the number of registered paramedics on last financial year.

“St John grew its Triple Zero (000) emergency response workforce by 12 per cent overall compared to the previous year, including personnel registered with AHPRA who have paramedicine qualifications,” Mr Brink said.

Further information:

• The RoGS report
• State Government committment to 34 extra paramedics in metropolitan Perth, and 31 paramedics in the regions.

Media queries:

• On-call media line: 9334 1237 or email media.relations@stjohnwa.com.au.