Paramedics plead with Victorians not to use them as taxis

Paramedics say Victorians with minor ailments — including conjunctivitis — have been told by some GPs to call triple-0 in the mistaken belief they will skip emergency department queues.

Some Victorians are using paramedics to try to skip waiting lines at hospital emergency departments. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Victorians are ringing triple-0 after GP visits under the belief they will skip emergency departments queues, frustrated paramedics say, as they plead for callers and clinicians to stop using them as “taxis”.

The Victorian Ambulance Union reported several patients with non urgent conditions – including conjunctivitis – were told by doctors, at times in writing, to go home and “call triple-0 to get in faster”.

But union general secretary Danny Hill said there had also been “completely dangerous” cases where GP patients – in genuine need and who “should not drive” — were “encouraged” to drive home, then call. “It’s playing Russian roulette to get behind a wheel,” he said.

He said an elderly patient with chest pain and a bad cough was told by their GP to drive home – passing a hospital on their way – and call triple-zero last week near Seaford.

He said a patient was told the same in September after developing chest pain and shortness of breath during a stress test at a Pakenham clinic near close.

GPs have told patients suffering from ailments as mild as a stomach pain and conjunctivitis to go home and ring triple-0 Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

“The patient still had chest pain and shortness of breath when the ambulance arrived (at their home) under lights and sirens,” he said.

Mr Hill said the other cases – where transport via family, friends or taxi would have been suitable – were a “complete misuse” of paramedics as “taxis drivers”, instead of “for emergencies”.

“They’ve been advised to call triple-0 to get in faster,” he said.

“It doesn’t work that way.”

The union said callers told by GPs to go home to ring triple-0 this month included an abdominal pain patient, near Yarrawonga, and a conjunctivitis case, near Churchill, instructed “ambulances go in the back way”, and avoid the “waiting room”.

They also said a patient with chest pain caused by chronic illness was told the night prior, by their Gippsland GP, to call so admission was “faster”.

While they represented a small portion of doctors, Mr Hill said it showed last year’s ‘save triple-0 for emergencies’ campaign — launched after revelations one in five calls did not need an ambulance — was “not just for the public”.

Ambulance Victoria executive director clinical operations Anthony Carlyon said arriving via ambulance “does not mean you will be seen quicker”.

“The severity of your condition determines how quickly you are seen at hospital and is decided by a triage nurse,” he said.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Dr Nicole Higgins said she would be “very surprised” by GPs giving this advice, but the college does not have visibility over “every single” GP’s actions and triple-0 should be for “emergencies only”.

It comes after whistleblowers revealed in the Herald Sun yesterday triple-0 was understaffed, with as few as four call-takers rostered on at times.

If it is not an emergency, Victorians can get help via the virtual emergency department, nurse on call, priority primary care centres or their GP instead of triple-0.

Originally published as Paramedics plead with Victorians not to use them as taxis