Reducing demand on ambulance services

Why this is important

Around one in 5 calls to Triple Zero do not require an emergency response. 

Ambulance Victoria's Secondary Triage and Medium Acuity Transport services aim to reserve emergency resources for the most urgent patients to increase access to emergency health care for all Victorians. 

Paramedics and nurses operate the Secondary Triage service. It connects patients who do not need emergency responses with appropriate care in the community. 

Medium Acuity Transport services pair new graduates with pre-retirement paramedics to meet the needs of less urgent patients, freeing up ambulances to respond to emergencies.

Ambulance Victoria has not met its response time targets since 2018–19. It is important that services designed to divert less urgent patients from emergency resources are working as intended. 

What we plan to examine

We plan to examine if Ambulance Victoria's Secondary Triage and Medium Acuity Transport services are reducing demand on ambulance services and hospital emergency departments. 

Who we plan to examine

Ambulance Victoria

Further information

This complements our planned engagement 'Urgent care services', which looks at initiatives designed to reduce demand on ambulance services and hospital emergency departments.