A South Coast paramedic says new figures showing ambulance response times have risen across the region are "alarming" and more resources are needed.
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The latest Bureau of Health Information (BHI) Healthcare Quarterly report shows that paramedics responded to 5267 call-outs in the Wollongong statistical area from April to June.
Four out of 10 (39.6 per cent) emergency category (P1) patients waited longer than the target 15 minutes for an ambulance from the time their Triple 0 call was answered.
The median wait time for these emergency patients was 11.7 minutes though some waited up to 22.9 minutes - nearly three minutes longer than the same period in 2018.
Meanwhile the median response time for patients in the life-threatening P1A ambulance category was eight minutes.
Response times declined in the Dapto-Port Kembla and Kiama-Shellharbour statistical areas too - with nearly half the emergency patients waiting longer than 15 minutes for an ambulance.
Emergency patients in these areas faced median waits of around 13 minutes.
"These figures are alarming because despite staffing enhancements at a number of stations in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven, we continue to see response times blow out," paramedic, and Australian Paramedics Association NSW vice-president, Glenn Congram said.
"A poor rostering model and a rise in bed block - which is seeing ambulances tied up at hospital emergency departments - are among the contributing factors.
"We need more resources, even more staff and they need to be utilised in the most effective manner if we are going to be able to improve response times with an ever expanding population."
More than 11,500 ambulances arrived at EDs across the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District from April to June, compared to just under 10,700 for the same quarter last year - an eight per cent rise.
The median transfer of care from paramedics to hospital staff increased by two minutes to 13 minutes; while some patients waited 39 minutes for their care to be transferred - nine minutes longer than the same period in 2018.
Just over 84 per cent of patients had their care transferred within the 30 minute target - down 5.5 percentage points year on year.
However a NSW Ambulance spokesperson said response performance was "reasonably maintained" across the state, despite the "substantial and significant" increase in demand for ambulance services.
In the past quarter, ambulance responses rose 9.7 per cent to 309,828 responses across NSW - an increase of 27,523 compared to the same quarter in 2018.
There was also a significant increase in the amount of patients calling with life threatening/emergency cases with 6551 in total, up by 11.8 per cent on the previous year.
"Despite the significant increase in demand, NSW Ambulance maintained the median response time for priority 1A responses ... within the target of 10 minutes," the spokesperson said.
"In the April to June 2019 quarter, the response time across the state was 7.5 minutes, which is stable against the corresponding quarter in 2018."
The spokesperson said in the Illawarra, an additional 12 paramedics had been allocated to Bulli and Oak Flats stations, while Dapto was set to receive 13 more paramedics this year.
