08 Aug 2018 Seymour Telegraph, Seymour VIC (General News) The latest performance data shows ambulances are responding faster to life-threatening emergencies in the area. It was the best quarterly response performance Ambulance Victoria has recorded since the amalgamation of rural and metropolitan ambulance services. Mitchell Shire has seen significant improvement, with 66.9 per cent of ambulances arriving within 15 minutes for code one emergencies, up from 57.7 per cent a year earlier. The average time for an ambulance to reach a Code One emergency in Mitchell in the same period has improved from 15.39 minutes to 13.36 minutes. Improvement has also been recorded in the Strathbogie Shire, with 41.2 per cent of ambulances arriving within 15 minutes for code one emergencies, up from 36.6 per cent a year earlier. The average time for an ambulance to reach a Code One emergency in Strathbogie in the same period has improved from 20.02 minutes to 18.58 minutes. Across the state, 83.8 per cent of all code one urgent ambulances arrive within 15 minutes. On average, ambulances arrived 11.12 minutes after being called, 38 seconds faster than the same quarter last year. The statewide data also shows 86.7 per cent of patients arriving by ambulance were transferred into hospital care within 40 minutes, up from 85.1 per cent the previous quarter. More than half were handed into the care of doctors and nurses within 19 minutes. State Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes credited the positive performance data to the Victorian Governments major health funding boosts and reforms to the ambulance system. This is great news for . . . patients, Ms Symes said. Ambulances are arriving faster at emergencies and hospitals are better equipped to give patients the high-quality care that they deserve.