Victoria spends less money per person running its public hospitals than any other state in the country, new data from Australia’s productivity watchdog reveals.

We have fewer beds, fewer staff and longer wait times in emergency departments than other states, and were lagging behind even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The Productivity Commission has found Victorian public hospitals received the equivalent of $2687 per person in funding n 2019-20, which was $284 less than the national average at that time.

However, the figures do not include extra hospital funding provided during the pandemic.

Data also reveals a third of patients who need urgent and emergency care are not being seen on time at Victoria’s public hospitals.

Ambulance response times have blown out almost three minutes across the state.

The latest Productivity Commission report reveals the number of patients in an emergency being seen in less than 10 minutes fell from 67 per cent in 2019-2020 to 62 per cent last year.

Fewer patients were also being admitted and released from the emergency department within four hours.