AMBULANCE VICTORIA 2009-2010 ANNUAL REPORT

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People in rural Victoria have more access to specialist facilities in the Melbourne metropolitan area than ever before, due to the recent increase in helicopter numbers and the development and growth of Adult Retrieval Victoria and its team of doctors. During the year we began one of the most significant reforms in our rural regions. By commencing the transition of the previous independent communications centres into a single centre, we will be better positioned to prioritise patients and make the most effective use of available resources. The new centre will have the most up-to-date technology to support paramedics and ensure the best response is provided to the community. The transition would not have been possible without the strong partnership we enjoy with the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) and a close working relationship with the Department of Justice (DoJ). The implementation of a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system for our rural communities will provide the capability for increased use of satellite technology and improved management and information systems. It will also allow for further knowledge-based development of AV. That knowledge can then be applied to improving patient care due to operational efficiencies, such as our Call Referral system, which helps maximise ambulance availability for emergencies. The implementation of these strategies has allowed AV to divide its operations into emergency and non-emergency parts and, hence, to ensure the relevant expertise for each is applied for patient and service improvements. Work continued on a range of other important initiatives. Human resource and finance systems have been introduced and improved respectively and as each step is taken, we learn more about ourselves as a single service and tackle issues as they are identified. This work is largely unseen to the outsider and the commitment and resilience of our staff has been critical to the delivery of these important systems. I would like to thank the Board of Directors for their guidance throughout the year, my executive management team who continue to deliver in challenging times and, once again, all AV staff, paramedics and their managers who perform so well year after year in providing such excellent service to the community. Greg Sassella Chief Executive Officer Another element of the reforms is the consolidation of the Non Emergency Patient Transport (NEPT) part of AV operations. A competitive tender process was conducted with private providers selected to provide these services with guaranteed levels of availability in specified areas along with performance measures to ensure high standards of service are delivered. In other communities, AV will provide the services. We are confident that the combined approach will ensure rural communities, and their hospitals, receive improved service for patients. 2009 - 2010 Annual Report AMBULANCE VICTORIA 7
Report of Operations 2009-2010 It was another exceptionally busy year as Ambulance Victoria (AV) responded to a record number of emergency calls. At the same time as meeting that challenge, the organisation continued to develop and restructure its operations as it moved through its second year of existence with some significant reforms implemented in the rural region of Operations. The Non Emergency Patient Transport (NEPT) area of Operations was consolidated, with the service provided by a mix of in-house crews and privately contracted companies. Targeted performance indicators will ensure service delivery is improved. We also began the consolidation of the previous five independent Rural Communication Centres to one specialised centre in Ballarat, to be operated by the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA), with more sophisticated technology. During the year we began the separation of the NEPT and emergency call taking and dispatch functions providing a clear distinction between the two parts of our service delivery model. These developments, in conjunction with the consolidation of our NEPT service providers under contract with embedded KPIs, provide a strong basis for further improvements to services and our patient outcomes. Across the state, we responded to Code 1 calls (lights and sirens) within 15 minutes in 81 per cent of cases. In areas with a population of more than 7,500, our response was 87 per cent within 15 minutes. Response times were impacted by a significant increase in demand and were below target. In 2009-2010, we responded to a record 462,830 emergency incidents, an increase of six per cent on the previous year. These included 128,890 road incidents in our five rural regions, 330,741 incidents in the metropolitan region and 3,199 emergency air incidents (2,064 by helicopter and 1,135 by plane). This represents an average of 1,268 emergency incidents per day. In addition, AV also provided services to 286, 004 (784 per day) non emergency incidents, bringing the total number of cases for the year to 748,834. During the year our cardiac arrest outcomes improved and our performance with heart attack patients also set a world-best standard with 90 per cent of these patients receiving cardiac surgeon intervention in 56 minutes 90 percent of time; against the Australian and American Heart Foundation standard of 106 minutes 75 percent of the time. The clinical trial investigating the most effective treatment for patients with severe primary brain injury also demonstrated significant benefits with a 13 per cent improvement in return to independent and non-insured living for those patients. The focus on patient medical outcomes is proving to be most beneficial to the community and meets our obligation to ‘improve the health of our community’. In respect of increasing demand for services, we continue to seek efficiencies that maximise the availability of emergency ambulances. A very effective initiative is AV’s Referral Service, which deals with 000 calls classified as low medical priority, where the patient’s condition indicates that an ambulance may not be necessary. The aim is to ensure the caller gets the medical help that resolves their issue, which may mean a referral to more appropriate care – such as seeing a doctor or self-treating the condition. This referral service managed 39,190 emergency calls during the year, an increase of more than 19 per cent, and referred 28,952 callers to alternative care, almost 20 per cent more than the previous year. The system reduces ambulance response demand by around 8 percent in the metropolitan region and we are pleased that this initiative has been approved for expansion into rural regions and expect similar benefits to be achieved. We continue to work with the Department of Health and health services to improve the transfer time of patients at hospitals in the metropolitan area. 8 AMBULANCE VICTORIA 2009 - 2010 Annual Report
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AMBULANCE VICTORIA 2009-2010 ANNUAL REPORT

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