The Australian Paramedics Association NSW recently said the state was among the worst ambulance response rates in the country.

APA secretary Steve Pearce said more paramedics were needed to address the problem.

“We can do better in NSW and save more lives if we had enough paramedics to meet the ever-increasing demand,” he said said. “Paramedics are being forced to manage too many patients who have been left waiting for too long and their condition has deteriorated to a point where the situation is life threatening.”

Mr Pearce said at least 500 more paramedics were needed to meet the growing demand.

But a NSW Ambulance spokesperson said the latest  Bureau of Health Information (BHI) Healthcare Quarterly report for April to June 2017 found response times were above the NSW Ambulance benchmark.

There were 276,354 calls for an ambulance during the quarter, which was up 2.1 per cent compared with the same quarter last year.

The BHI found the median response time in the quarter for Priority 1A cases was 7.4 minutes which was above the benchmark. The NSW Ambulance spokesperson said they had a response time target of 10 minutes in this category.

With regards to paramedic numbers across the state, the spokesperson said $7.5 million had been allocated in the 2017 state budget for an additional 50 relief paramedics.