Tasmania recorded the slowest ambulance wait times in Australia with ACT being the fastest, according to a new Productivity Commission report.
Ambulance wait times across the nation have been revealed in the report, which found Tasmania performed the worst with a median wait time of 14 minutes.
Those in NSW and Tasmania typically had to wait 12.5 minutes for a paramedic over the 2020-21 reporting period.
The median wait time in Queensland was 10.5 minutes, followed closely by Victoria at 10.3 minutes.
Those in the Northern Territory and Western Australia had to wait around nine and a half minutes, while ambulances in the ACT recorded the fastest median response time of nine minutes.
It's said ambulances NSW are taking longer to reach patients due to a critical shortage of paramedics.
"Our emergency response times are a full two minutes slower than comparable jurisdictions like Victoria and Queensland," Australian Paramedics Association NSW president Chris Kastelan said.
"In an emergency situation, those minutes really matter.
"The likelihood of survival for a cardiac event can drop by 10 per cent for each minute treatment is delayed."
The report found NSW was chronically understaffed with only 48.6 paramedics available per 100,000 people, ranking as the second-worst state.
Per capita, NSW has a third fewer paramedics compared to better performing states such as Queensland and Tasmania.
"The report is pretty unambiguous -- in NSW we spend less, we have fewer paramedics on the road and patients wait longer to receive an ambulance".
Apart from the impact on patients, the severe shortage has also adversely impacted paramedics who are often working gruelling hours of overtime during the pandemic, with hardly any time for a meal break.
"While leaders may wish to blame our current failings on COVID-19, this data draws a clear line between poor outcomes and the systematic under-resourcing and underfunding of our service," Mr Kastelan said.
The APA is calling for an immediate increase of 1,500 paramedics to bring ratios in NSW in line with other states.
"Now is a critical time for our leaders to step up and make meaningful commitments to improve ambulance staffing".
