Horror flu year doesn't slow Vic ambos

Victoria's horror flu season has not stopped Ambulance Victoria from improving its response times.

A horror flu season has not stopped Victorian paramedics from getting to more urgent jobs than any winter quarter in the past eight years.

Ambulance Victoria got to code one call outs within the target 15 minutes 79.5 per cent of the time, the latest figures for the September 2017 quarter show.

"Quarter one hospital performance is always the toughest part of the year for our health and ambulance services and that's because the ordinary demands of things like flu really takes its toll," Health Minister Jill Hennessy said on Wednesday.

"And this year we had a horror flu."

While the service has continued to improve, it still is yet to hit the statewide target of getting to code one call outs in time, 85 per cent of the time.

"These are targets that have never been met in the past, but we're actually on target to get there," Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters.

The performance data has been released in the same week firefighter response times were released, with the CFA admitting traffic congestion slowed firefighters in the outer suburbs.

Ambulance Victoria chief executive Tony Walker said extra resources have been put in to improve performance in the growth suburbs.

"I think it's fair to say the growth in outer suburbs of Melbourne has probably been the area where we've been struggling with our response historically," he said.

Ambulance Employees Australia's Victorian branch praised the government for working with paramedics to reduce the caseload of code one emergencies so they can respond to more urgent cases.


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Source: AAP



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