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Report on Government Services 2017

Volume E, Chapter 11

Ambulance services

Performance reporting for ambulance events includes information on ambulance service organisations, which are the primary agencies involved in providing services for out-of-hospital medical emergency events.

Please note: An errata was released with this chapter. The files below have been updated to reflect the changes.

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  • Key Facts
  • Indicator Framework
  • Indicator Results

Nationally in 2015-16:

  • there were 3.4 million incidents resulting in 4.3 million ambulance service responses to attend to 3.2 million patients
  • recurrent expenditure across Australia was approximately $3.0 billion (or $126 per person)
  • there were 16 087 full time equivalent paid personnel, 6182 volunteers and 2620 community first responders in ambulance service organisations. (Community first responders are trained volunteers that provide an emergency response (with no transport capacity) and first aid care before ambulance arrival.)

Ambulance services aim to promote health and reduce the adverse effects of emergency events on the community. Governments’ involvement in ambulance services is aimed at providing emergency medical care, pre-hospital and out-of-hospital care, and transport services that are:

  • accessible and timely
  • meet patients’ needs through delivery of appropriate health care
  • high quality — safe, co-ordinated and responsive healthcare
  • sustainable.

Governments aim for ambulance services to meet these objectives in an equitable and efficient manner.

The performance indicator framework provides information on equity, efficiency and effectiveness, and distinguishes the outputs and outcomes of ambulance services. The performance indicator framework shows which data are complete and comparable in the 2017 Report.

Indicator framework

An overview of the Ambulance services performance indicator results are presented. Information to assist the interpretation of these data can be found in the indicator interpretation boxes in the Ambulance services chapter and attachment tables.

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Effectiveness — Access indicators

Response times

Capital city centre response times, 90th percentile, 2015-16

Most recent data for this measure are not comparable but are complete, subject to caveats
 NSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
min. 20.6 18.2 16.0 14.2 16.0 19.4 13.7 29.4 ..
Source: Attachment table 11A.14

State-wide response times, 90th percentile, 2015-16

Most recent data for this measure are not comparable but are complete, subject to caveats
 NSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
min. 22.9 21.5 17.1 14.9 18.0 26.3 13.7 27.3 ..

Source: Attachment table 11A.14

Proportion of calls from the emergency call service answered by ambulance service communication centre staff in a time equal to or less than 10 seconds, 2015-16

Most recent data for this measure are not comparable but are complete, subject to caveats
 NSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
% 81.2 93.1 91.6 95.2 95.3 95.3 96.6 95.9 93.2

Source: Attachment table 11A.15

Effectiveness — Appropriateness indicators

Pain management

Proportion of patients who report a clinically meaningful pain reduction, 2015-16

Most recent data for this measure are not comparable but are complete, subject to caveats
 NSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
% 85.3 89.8 88.7 86.2 73.1 85.9 88.5 73.8 87.9

Source: Attachment table 11A.12

Effectiveness — Quality indicators

Level of patient satisfaction

Overall satisfaction rate, 2016

Most recent data for this measure are comparable (subject to caveats) but are not complete
 NSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
% na 97 ± 1.6 100 ± 0.7 97 ± 1.8 98 ± 1.5 98 ± 1.1 98 ± 1.3 96 ± 3.3 98 ± 0.5
Source: Attachment table 11A.13

Effectiveness — Sustainability indicators

Ambulance workforce

Operational workforce under 50 years of age, 2015-16

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
 NSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
% 74.5 75.5 79.6 82.2 73.8 77.2 76.2 84.5 77.3

Source: Attachment table 11A.6

Staff attrition rate, 2015-16

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
 NSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
% 3.6 3.4 2.6 3.0 1.7 4.1 3.8 13.5 3.3

Source: Attachment table 11A.6

Efficiency indicators

Ambulance services expenditure per person

Ambulance services expenditure per person, 2015-16

Most recent data for this measure are not comparable but are complete, subject to caveats
 NSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
$ 115.80 134.99 139.56 92.72 159.30 133.83 120.30 114.95 126.40
Source: Attachment table 11A.17

Outcome indicators

Cardiac arrest survived event rate

Adult cardiac arrest survival rate — where resuscitation attempted (excluding paramedic witnessed), 2014-15

Most recent data for this measure are not comparable but are complete, subject to caveats
 NSWVicQldWASATasACTNTAust
% 31.9 27.6 29.6 22.3 24.2 25.0 24.7 21.6 28.2
Source: Attachment table 11A.11

Notes

These data and caveats for these data are available in chapter 11 and attachment 11A.

Some percentages reported in these tables include 95 per cent confidence intervals (for example, 80 per cent ± 2.7 per cent).

na Not available. .. Not applicable.