Ambulance Union says people seeking care should consider their need for an ambulance due to Monday night’s strained workload

One Melbourne hospital has recorded a wait time of almost five hours, while more than 100 paramedic crews have been stuck ramped at hospitals, meaning paramedics are caring for patients waiting to be admitted.

There were more than 25 crews off the road across metropolitan Melbourne on Monday night because of staff shortages. Picture: David Crosling

Paramedics are bracing for a busy night amid crew shortages and overrun hospitals warning they are out of beds.

Leaked ambulance data shows more than 25 crews are off the road across metropolitan Melbourne on Monday night because of staff shortages.

As at 7.15pm at least another 110 crews were stuck ramped at hospitals, meaning paramedics were caring for patients waiting to be admitted.

Data leaked to the Herald Sun showed wait times had blown out to almost five hours at Sunshine Hospital and almost four hours at Footscray Hospital.

Wait times blew out at Footscray Hospital on Monday night.

More than 10 major hospitals were showing wait times of more than two hours.

Ballarat paramedics were also asked to avoid Ballarat Hospital, meaning critical patients were to be transported to Melbourne, Geelong or Bendigo.

At least one major metropolitan hospital was also understood to have warned paramedics they had no beds available.

Victorian Ambulance Union secretary, Danny Hill, urged Victorians seeking care to consider their need for an ambulance.

“If your issue is not a life threatening emergency, you will be seen faster going through Virtual ED or an Urgent Care Clinic,” he said.

“A lot of people call paramedics thinking they wont need to go into the waiting room if they are taken by ambulance. That’s just not true.

“When it’s this busy, the ED beds are for patients in immediate life threat. Anyone else will go into the waiting room for most of the night”.

Two Victorians have died waiting for an ambulance this month, including an elderly Blackburn man who was left to bleed to death after falling and hitting his head.

The man phoned for an ambulance twice, but it took almost five hours for one to arrive.

As he lay waiting for help up to six crews were stuck ramped at the nearby Box Hill Hospital just one suburb away.

A parliamentary inquiry probing Ambulance Victoria has been warned that hospital ramping is endangering lives and leaving entire communities without an ambulance.

The Allan government in February issued new offload benchmarks for the state’s 17 busiest emergency departments to improve patient transfer times and get paramedics back on the road sooner.

Health minister Mary-Anne Thomas threatened hospitals with “consequences” if they failed to meet the tough new standards.

Originally published as Ambulance Union says people seeking care should consider their need for an ambulance due to Monday night’s strained workload