The Malinauskas Labor Government’s significant investment in the SA Ambulance Service continues to pay dividends with the latest response times data released today showing the highest percentage of South Australians receiving an ambulance on-time for a lights and sirens emergency since November 2020.
In January 2025, 68.7 per cent of all Priority 2 cases were attended to within the target time of 16 minutes. This is the highest percentage of ambulances arriving on time to Priority 2 emergencies in any month since November 2020 (68.8 per cent).
It is also more than 30 percentage points higher than the same month three years ago under the former Liberal Government, when only 36.2 per cent of ambulances arrived on time in January 2022.
There has also been a substantial improvement in response times for Priority 1 cases, with 75.2 per cent attended to within the target time of eight minutes, compared to just 47.1 per cent in January 2022.
In total, 7,410 lights and sirens emergencies (either Priority 1 or Priority 2) arrived on time last month – compared to just 4,115 in the same month three years ago – an 80 per cent improvement.
This represents an extra 3,295 South Australians who had an ambulance arrive on time in an emergency.
There were also 3,819 less South Australians not seen on time for lights and sirens emergencies last month compared to January 2022 – 7,171 combined P1 and P2 cases had an ambulance arrive outside recommended times in January 2022, compared to 3,352 P1 and P2 cases last month.
There has also been improvement on last month’s results, with Priority 1 cases rising from 70.8 per cent in December 2024 to 75.2 per cent in January 2025, and Priority 2 cases going from 61.9 per cent in December 2024 up to 68.7 per cent last month.
These positive statistics are the direct result of the Malinauskas Labor Government hiring more ambos, getting more ambulances on the road and building more ambulance stations to increase emergency coverage.
This includes the new $120 million ambulance headquarters and co-located Adelaide ambulance station at Mile End South.
Construction is moving ahead, with recent milestones including completion of the upper slab and external cladding on the ambulance headquarters building, gyprock sheeting of the communications and ICT room, and the first coat of paint on some of the internal walls.
The purpose-designed headquarters will house the 143 personnel responsible for responding to ambulance Triple Zero activity – with room to grow staff and infrastructure in the future. There will also be dedicated rooms for training and handling major incidents including natural disasters, large-scale accidents, and outbreaks.
Alongside the HQ will be the new Adelaide ambulance station. It will be home to the additional 16 paramedics that started in July last year, 16 paramedics who will start this July, as well as the 24-paramedic Ashford crews.
The station will accommodate seven ambulances and two light fleet vehicles, providing additional coverage and stopping surrounding crews being pulled away from their local areas. The site is on track to open by the end of 2025.
The investment in the state’s ambulance service is part of building a bigger health system for South Australia, which also includes opening more than 600 beds and hiring hundreds more doctors and nurses for our hospitals.
Ambulance response time data is published every month on the SA Health website.
As put by Peter Malinauskas
We promised to reduce ambulance response times and we have delivered.
We are building a bigger health system to ensure South Australians get the health care they need, when they need it.
We are starting to see the results of the Government’s investment with the best Priority 2 response times in more than four years.
When we came to Government, an ambulance arrived on time for only one out of three South Australians who had a lights and sirens emergency.
Now, it’s more than two in three.
We know the job isn’t done, and will continue to back our ambos so they can provide quality health care to South Australians.
As put by Chris Picton
The dramatic improvement in January’s response times compared to the same month three years ago shows that our investment in the state’s ambulance service is reaping rewards.
We committed to recruiting an additional 350 ambos in our first term of government, with 273 of those having hit the road already and the remainder to be deployed by the end of this year.
We’ve also committed to getting 36 additional ambulances on the road and are building or upgrading 22 ambulance stations across the state.
This increases our ambulance coverage and means ambos can get to South Australians quicker in an emergency.
As put by SAAS Chief Executive Officer, Rob Elliott
I am incredibly proud of our staff across the organisation for their hard work and dedication in achieving these improved emergency response times.
The single biggest factor has been the increased presence of more resources on the ground, driven by our recruitment targets being met.
We’ve also made significant strides in improving other contributors to our Priority 2 performance, focusing on how we respond to emergency situations.
We have increased the role of single responders, improved ambulance availability, and still maintained excellent clinical care for South Australians.
