Statewide Code 1 performance stayed below benchmark in early 2026
Ambulance Victoria reached 65.6% of Code 1 emergencies within 15 minutes across the state in Quarter 3 of 2025/26, well below its 85% benchmark. In larger population centres, performance was 70.6%, short of the 90% target for those areas.
Those figures cover the first three months of 2026. As a result, nearly three in 10 urgent cases in major Victorian communities missed the official 15-minute benchmark.
Family First Victoria published the criticism in a statement on 5 July 2026. The party named Legislative Council candidates Jane Foreman, Dianne Colbert and Matt Emerson.
26 June Geelong ramping
An 88-year-old man died after spending up to eight hours on a trolley in a corridor at a Geelong hospital. Two days earlier, an 81-year-old grandmother in Grovedale lay on her floor for two and a half hours waiting for a paramedic, although the nearest hospital was about 15 minutes away.
At about 1am on 26 June, more than a dozen ambulance crews were ramped outside University Hospital Geelong. Some emergency patients waited two and a half hours, and no local crews were available for other calls in the region.
Foreman said Victorians should be able to expect fast help after calling 000. According to the latest figures, she argued, the service is still missing that basic standard.
The statewide result sits nearly 13 percentage points below Ambulance Victoria’s target. Family First asked why Victoria still falls that far short of a five-year-old ambulance transfer target more than four years after the pandemic.
Colbert argued the response figures were unacceptable because delays in cases involving breathing trouble, chest pain and other critical emergencies can put lives at risk. Meanwhile, Emerson said paramedics are doing extraordinary work, but crews cannot answer the next emergency while they are stuck outside hospitals.
Family First is calling for immediate action to cut ambulance ramping and hospital transfer delays. It also wants a public recovery plan to lift Code 1 performance toward the 85% statewide target and the 90% target in larger centres, plus targeted resourcing for growth corridors and outer suburban communities.
