Secret inquiry into ambulance Victoria sparks employee outrage

An inquiry into Ambulance Victoria has begun behind closed doors, frustrating employees who wanted to expose a toxic work culture and patient deaths due to delays.

A long awaited inquiry into the embattled Ambulance Victoria has begun in secret, with all evidence to be taken behind closed doors.

In a move that has angered many Ambulance Victoria employees who had hoped to blow the whistle on what they have described as toxic culture that has devastated the agency, the parliament’s inquiry into the service has decided to hear all evidence in private.

Almost 200 employees and people associated with Ambulance Victoria made submissions to the inquiry, which is probing the agency and its failings over recent years.

It has been told that several lives have been lost and many more are being put at risk due to a toxic culture of harassment, poor management, burnout and a resourcing crisis.

Submissions filed by paramedics, patients and their families have exposed escalating concerns and warnings that ramping – ambulances parked outside emergency departments for hours at a time while patients wait for hospital treatment – has cost several lives and endangers more.

Examples in submissions of ambulance delays where ­patients have died included an 83-year-old dementia ­patient who died after waiting hours for treatment, a man, 96, who died after waiting six hours for an ambulance after breaking a leg; and the case of an 18-month-old baby administered with a near-fatal dose of medication by a graduate paramedic.

The baby’s body shut down soon after she was given the incorrect dosage, leaving her unresponsive.

Submissions filed by paramedics, patients and their families have exposed escalating concerns. Picture: David Crosling

In a statement on Thursday the Ambulance Managers & Professionals Association (AMPA) said Ambulance Victoria had been plagued by systemic administrative, managerial and governance failures.

He said evidence included revelations a redress scheme for bullying victims was still to be put in place following a damning 2022 Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission report.

Basic functions including pay queries and HR investigations were taking months or even years to resolve due to understaffing.

And burnout was rampant, with staff clocking regular overtime, including on weekends.

In April the Herald Sun revealed Ambulance Victoria was sitting on a secret report following an investigation into illegal funeral gatherings held at the height of the Covid pandemic.

Paramedics and senior Ambulance Victoria executives attended two illegal gatherings to farewell former colleagues at a time when millions of Victorians were under strict lockdowns in September 2021.

The events were reported to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and subsequently investigated by Ambulance Victoria who has refused to make public finds from the probe.

Senior Ambulance Victoria sources said systemic issues were now deeply entrenched in the organisation.

Shadow health spokeswoman, Georgie Crozier, has demanded the report be made public, and it could be forced through the inquiry.

Originally published as Secret inquiry into ambulance Victoria sparks employee outrage