Patient waited hours for ambulance before her death

A woman in her 30s who was forced to wait six hours for an ambulance was unable to be saved by paramedics — and the dangerous wait times are now at crisis point.

Health Minister Martin Foley is pushing for an investigation into the woman’s death. Picture: David Geraghty

A woman has died while waiting six hours for paramedics, as Victoria’s growing ambulance delays escalate into a crisis.

The tragedy comes as the Saturday Herald Sun can reveal more critically ill and injured Victorians are waiting dangerously long times for ambulances than ever before.

Confidential documents reveal the crisis impacting Victoria’s ambulance service has become so severe in recent weeks that more than one in four Code 1 emergency patients wait longer than 15 minutes for help.

The Saturday Herald Sun understands it took an ambulance more than six hours to respond to a callout to a woman in her 30s in a critical condition on Wednesday — but paramedics were unable to save her when they finally arrived.

Ambulance Victoria’s acting chief operations officer, Associate Professor Mick Stephenson, on Friday confirmed an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the patient’s death had been launched, with support from Safer Care Victoria.

“We have spoken with her family and extended our deepest condolences for their loss,” he said. “If this was someone I loved I would want to know what happened and whether the outcome would have been different had an ambulance arrived sooner.

“Ambulance Victoria is committed to providing the patient’s family with answers.”

As concerns rise over the extent of ambulance delays across the state, Health Minister Martin Foley said he was pushing for an investigation into the woman’s death.

“This is a terrible tragedy and I want to offer my sincere condolences to the patient’s family and friends,” he said. “I have asked Ambulance Victoria, with the support of Safer Care Victoria, to immediately set up an investigation … to understand exactly what happened and what could have been done differently.”

The Saturday Herald Sun understands Ambulance Victoria will soon have to release its latest quarterly performance data, showing its worst results ever recorded.

Leaked reports seen by the Saturday Herald Sun reveal that just 73.4 per cent of Code 1 incidents have been responded to within the 15 minute target so far in April.

The confidential data shows the situation is even worse in rural Victoria, where only 65.4 per cent of Code 1 emergencies are responded to in time.

Ambulance Victoria said since the end of lockdown demand on ambulance services and emergency departments had increased, with 10,000 more callouts than the previous quarter.

It said paramedics had been under extra pressure while performing duties, donning full PPE when treating potential or suspected COVID-19 cases, which may be impacting response times.

Under its performance guidelines, Ambulance Victoria is expected to respond to at least 85 per cent of Code 1 incidents within 15 minutes.

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