Ambulance union boss warns of growing delays for emergency care

A patient at a hospital in the city’s outer east has been forced to lie on a stretcher for 14 hours, as the ambulance union warns delays will get worse through winter.

A patient has been forced to lie on a stretcher for 14 hours at Maroondah Hospital waiting for emergency care. Picture: Hamish Blair

The ambulance union says a patient has been forced to wait about 14 hours on an ambulance stretcher at Maroondah Hospital’s emergency department, queuing for so long the paramedic crew changed over several times.

The person — one of three patients that a crew stayed with to care for — was still waiting to be admitted to the Eastern Health hospital in Ringwood as of 9.30am this morning, the union said.

Victorian Ambulance Union general secretary Danny Hill slammed the delay and said paramedics “didn’t sign up to work in a corridor”.

“They want to be busy, they want to be saving lives, but they’re unable to because they’re caring for a patient in a corridor,” he said.

He warned that this would continue throughout winter, and encouraged people to seek alternatives — such as nurse on call or existing urgent care centres — for non-urgent cases.

“We’ll see many more events like this and code oranges and much more ramping,” he said.

He said while this was the “extreme end”, paramedics had to frequently stay with less urgent patients when emergency departments were too busy to admit them.

Victorian Ambulance Union general secretary Danny Hill slammed the delay. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

“This is just the consistent pattern that we’re in post-Covid that every Australian ambulance service is dealing with post-Covid,” he said.

He said while the federal government’s funding of 50 urgent care centres was welcome, they were not doing enough to ease the crisis.

“I don’t think we’re looking at whole system reform, it’s very piecemeal,” he said.

“The state funded priority primary care centres are an excellent initiative and we get excellent feedback about that - that should be proof for further investments.”

In response, Health Minister Mark Butler pointed to recent initiatives from the Albanese government, and said the former Morrison government had neglected Medicare.

“The budget included the government’s commitment to make it easier to see a doctor and taking pressure off overwhelmed emergency departments with our Medicare urgent care clinics,” he said.

“When you have a deep cut, or when your child breaks their arm, the Medicare UCCs will be there to avoid patients having to spend hours in a hospital waiting room.

“Medicare UCCs are just one way the Albanese government is strengthening Medicare and ensuring Australians get the medical care they need when they need it.”

Mr Hill said there needed to be more “mid-tier” care between hospitals and GPs, and said there were staff available to support these models.

“We have a whole workforce of paramedics who come out of university each year, who are not hired,” he said.

“(Urgent care centres) could employ paramedics, nurses, allied health professionals to support GPs and doctors who work there in a team based approach.”

Mark Butler says Medicare urgent care clinics are there to avoid patients having to spend hours in a hospital waiting room. Picture: Martin Ollman

The latest hospital quarterly figures, released each quarter, showed more than 30 per cent of emergency department patients at Maroondah Hospital were not treated on time between January and March 2023.

An Eastern Health spokeswoman said they could “confirm we have been experiencing high demand at a number of our emergency departments”.

“The impact of this high demand is further compounded by high acuity presentations along with presentations of COVID-19, influenza and RSV,” she said.

“We encourage our community to keep Emergency Departments for emergencies only. And for non-urgent or non-life threatening conditions, please access alternative health care options such as your local GP if this is suitable.”

Victoria’s emergency healthcare has come under significant pressure throughout the pandemic, with ramping — a sign that emergency departments are crowded — and long wait times at hospitals across the state making headlines.