Ambulance attendances
Victoria State
Alcohol and drug-related ambulance attendances in Victoria
Source: Turning Point
Analysis by Turning Point
ERP from ABS release dated 28 August 2025 (Population estimates by age and sex, by LGA, 2001 to 2024)
Last update: 18 February 2026
Metro/Regional
Alcohol and drug-related ambulance attendances in Victoria
Source: Turning Point
Analysis by Turning Point
ERP from ABS release dated 28 August 2025 (Population estimates by age and sex, by LGA, 2001 to 2024)
Last update: 18 February 2026
Local Government Areas (LGA)
Alcohol and drug-related ambulance attendances in Victoria
Source: Turning Point
Analysis by Turning Point
ERP from ABS release dated 28 August 2025 (Population estimates by age and sex, by LGA, 2001 to 2024)
Last update: 18 February 2026
Definitions
Drug categories
- Alcohol Intoxication (w/wo Other Substance) = alcohol involvement, with or without other drug/substance – (only ambulance data is specifically coded for intoxication)
- Alcohol Only (Intoxication) = alcohol without any other substances – (only ambulance data is specifically coded for intoxication).
- Amphetamines (Any) = all amphetamines (e.g., amphetamine, methamphetamine).
- Amphetamines (Meth) = crystal meth or ice. This category is a subset of Amphetamines (Any).
- Analgesics = pain relief medications, such as aspirin or paracetamol, and other non-opioid analgesics.
- Antidepressants = antidepressant, such as citalopram or sertraline.
- Antipsychotics = antipsychotic, such as amisulpride or quetiapine.
- Benzodiazepines = benzodiazepines like alprazolam or diazepam (may include drugs that act like benzodiazepines, such as zolpidem).
- Cannabis = cannabis or hashish.
- GHB (Gamma-hydroxybutyrate) = GHB.
- Hallucinogens = hallucinogen, including LSD or mushrooms.
- Heroin (Any) = any heroin.
- Heroin Overdose (Responded to naloxone) = heroin with a positive response to administered naloxone.
- Illicit Drugs (Any): indicates case where any illicit drug was primarily involved in the event, including heroin, other opioids, amphetamines, cannabis, stimulants, GHB, hallucinogens, inhalants, synthetic cannabis, or other illicit drugs not explicitly mentioned.
- Inhalants = any volatile substance, inhalant or solvent, such as chrome or petrol.
- Opioids = prescription opioids, including opioid analgesics like morphine or oxycodone.
- Other Sedatives = a sedative (excluding opioids and benzodiazepines) was involved in the event, such as barbiturates, anaesthetics or ketamine.
- Other Stimulants = stimulants, including cocaine or ecstasy.
- Pharmaceutical Drugs (Any): indicates case where a prescription drug was primarily involved in the event, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, analgesics, sedatives, pharmacotherapy, steroids or another medication (prescribed or non-prescribed) not explicitly mentioned.
- Pharmacotherapy = synthetic opioids, such as those used in opioid replacement therapy, including methadone and buprenorphine.
Gender categories
- Null refers to either missing or other gender.
Age group categories
- Null refers to missing age
Methods
Scope
AODstats provides the ability to track trends of acute harms at the community level, and help inform policy and strategies to intervene and minimise the impact or spread of these harms. This information provides a convenient, interactive, statistical resource for policy planners, drug service providers, health professionals and other key stakeholders interested in the harms relating to alcohol and other drug use in Victoria.Data Analysis
For further information on the analysis, please see the methods document.- Data indicator: Ambulance
- Data Source: The Ambo Project – Turning Point.
- Details of data analysis: Ambulance data are extracted from NASS, the National Ambulance Surveillance System. Data includes alcohol and other drug-related events attended by ambulance paramedics in Victoria. The original clinical data from Ambulance Victoria is provided to Turning Point, where specialist project staff manually code events for alcohol and other drug involvement. Data is based on the location of the ambulance event.
- Year = Financial Year
Metrics presented
- Numbers: cell sizes less than 5 are obfuscated in line with ethics and data custodian requirements. Some other categorical data may also be obfuscated if a category can be calculated by subtracting any remaining categories from the total.
- Rates: rates are crude rates, which can allow for adjustment of population sizes across different areas, however these do not adjust for certain demographic attributes (specifically age and sex). The advantage to using crude rates is particularly important from a policy perspective, to understand what is influencing the rates. For example, it is important for policy and services to be aware if an area has more men and younger people.
- Population estimates: ABS estimated resident population (ERP) on age, sex and statistical local areas are used throughout AODstats based on calendar year of data. For financial year datasets the earliest year is used (e.g. 2012/13, 2012 ERP is used)
Limitations
There are limitations to using administrative data for purposes other than what it was originally intended when collected. This includes:- Incomplete or missing data and inadequate coding.
- Crude rates are used, which do not allow for certain demographic attributes (age and gender) to be compared accurately across areas, and also rates based on small numbers can produce unstable results.
Industrial action
From March 2023 until September 2024, paramedics took industrial action to advocate for better pay and working conditions. As part of this action paramedics implemented bans on recording patient details into the Victorian Ambulance Clinical Information System (VACIS), an Electronic Patient Care Record (EPCR). Instead, they documented cases using a hard copy of the Patient Care Record (PCR) and refrained from, completing patient details on the Ambulance Victoria copy of the PCR.
Due to these actions, the National Addiction and Mental Health Surveillance Unit (NAMHSU), which manually code for alcohol and drug involvement using EPCRs, received approximately 25% of the usual number of cases. Given the significantly reduced data available in the National Ambulance Surveillance System (NASS) for this period, senior project staff decided to estimate the values rather than rely on incomplete records.
How was the value estimated?
The estimation was based on the average number of cases from the April-June quarters of the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years. To ensure a conservative estimate, 75% of this average was added to the actual recorded values. Typically, the April-June period tends to see lower substance use activity than the warmer months, (October-January), which include several public holidays and festive periods.
As a result, the estimated numbers may appear lower than usual, and it is possible that actual alcohol and drug-related activity during this period was higher than what is reflected on AODstats. While efforts have been made to provide a realistic estimate, it is important to interpret the data with caution, keeping in mind that, it is a calculated prediction rather than specially coded data for that time frame.
When will data be actual vs predicted again?
The paramedic industrial action ended in late September 2024. Since October 2024, the NAMSHU team has observed a return to normal case numbers. The next data release will also include estimated data for the quarter 3 period (July-Sept), using the same methodology as the current release. Therefore, a full set of actual data will not be available until the 2025/26 data release.
In the meantime, there are a number of other datasets currently available on AODStats that provide information on alcohol and drug related data for this time period including Counselling Online, DirectLine, that can help to provide further insight into recent alcohol and drug usage in Victoria.
How can I tell the difference between the coded and estimated data?
The estimated data corresponds to the 2023/24 Financial Year and will be visually distinguished from coded data using a different colour. This will help users identify which data points have been estimated versus those that have been manually coded.
