They also operated on 100 per cent of the hospital’s urgent elective surgery patients within the benchmark 30 day period. The latest Victorian Health Services Performance data shows they treated half of the elective surgery patients within 15 days.

Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the data shows that, despite record demand on health services, more patients are getting the treatment and surgeries they need sooner.

Wendouree MP Sharon Knight said: “People in Ballarat waiting for surgery can also be confident they will receive their operations sooner as a result of our record investment in hospitals bringing down waiting times”.

Ballarat ambulance performance also improved, with an average response time in the September quarter of 11:40 minutes compared to 13:00 minutes in the same period of 2013/14.