AMBULANCE response times in Frankston have failed to improve in the most recent quarter, new figures show.
Frankston’s local government area recorded slightly slower response times according to new data released by Ambulance Victoria last week for the July to September quarter. Response times on the Mornington Peninsula increased by an average of more than 35 seconds.
Code one “lights and sirens” emergencies are measured from the time of a 000 call being answered to the first ambulance arriving at the scene – with a statewide response time target being 15 minutes. In the Frankston municipality, ambulances took an average of 12 seconds longer to get to an emergency compared to the previous quarter, with an average response time of 14 minutes and 10 seconds.
A total average of 72.1 per cent of ambulance callouts got to a patient in less than 15 minutes within Frankston, up from 71.8 percent the previous quarter.
On the Mornington Peninsula, 62 percent of ambulance callouts took less than 15 minutes to get to patients. The average response time was 15 minutes and 40 seconds – up 36 seconds compared to preceding quarter.
There were 2865 emergencies on the peninsula over the three months.
Ambulance Victoria’s regional operations executive director Michael Georgiou said the demand for “lights and sirens” ambulances across Victoria increased by 2.8 per cent compared to the previous quarter.
“Winter consistently brings the highest emergency call volumes, and this year was no exception,” Georgiou said. “This was our busiest first quarter on record with 101,632 Code 1 emergencies in just three months, and overall, it was our second busiest quarter ever. Despite this record demand, we continue to lead the way in pre-hospital patient care, including the best cardiac arrest survival rates in Australia and third best anywhere in the world.”
Ambulance Victoria’s metropolitan regional director Vanessa Gorman said their secondary triage team of nurses and paramedics had connected 49,353 patients with the care they needed, helping free up crews for patients in emergencies.
Metropolitan regional director Jessica McGowan said community awareness plays a key role in ensuring paramedics can reach the most critical patients as quickly as possible.
“Our paramedics are focused on reaching the sickest patients first — but every day, about one in five calls to 000 do not need an emergency ambulance response,” McGowan said. “There are many options people can access when they need timely medical care and health advice, at any time of the night or day – but not an emergency ambulance or calling 000, including the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department, urgent care clinics, nurse-on-call, GPs, and pharmacists.”
First published in the Frankston Times – 2 December 2025