Sick Victorians face huge wait for emergency treatment

Victorians needing urgent medical care are waiting more than 24 hours for treatment in struggling emergency departments.

More sick Victorians needing treatment are spending longer than 24 hours in emergency departments, new health performance data has revealed.

New quarterly data from the Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI), released on Friday morning, shows 3676 people stayed in the emergency department for longer than 24 hours, compared to just 270 people at the same time last year.

It’s also a big increase from the previous quarter, which collated data from April to June this year, where 1717 people were forced to wait longer than a day.

Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas has acknowledged more work needs to be done to improve response times. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The data also showed slight improvements to the number of Victorians waiting for elective surgeries.

The waitlist – which ballooned during Covid as non-urgent surgeries were deferred – is now sitting at just under 85,000, a decrease of about 2000 since the last available data three months ago.

The median wait time for elective surgery is 34 days, with 74.5 per cent of patients being treated within the clinically recommended time.

Just 64.3 per cent of Code 1 calls for an ambulance were seen within 15 minutes, representing a 0.3 per cent increase since the previous quarter.

Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said those figures represented a stabilisation.

“Clearly this is not where we want to be,” she said.

“There is no doubt whatsoever that the Covid pandemic has placed pressure on our paramedics.

“Our government is absolutely committed to returning our ambulance response levels to where they were prior to the pandemic.”

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier says the figures aren’t good enough. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Ambulance Victoria clinical operations executive director Anthony Carlyon said demand for paramedics remained at record levels for the first quarter of 2022/23, blaming the continued impacts of Covid and flu.

“July to September was our busiest first quarter on record, and the second busiest quarter ever,” Mr Carlyon said.

“Together with the previous quarter, this was by far the busiest and most challenging winter ever. Our paramedics and first responders worked tirelessly to keep delivering world class care.”

Ambulances were called to 94,592 Code 1 cases from July to September.

That represents a drop of 3,335 Code 1 cases from the previous quarter, but a 17.6 per cent increase – or 14,132 more ‘lights and sirens’ cases – compared to this time last year.

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the figures weren’t good enough.

“The increase in patients waiting for emergency care are a huge concern and demonstrate the extent of the health crisis,” she said.

“Extensive delays are putting the lives of Victorians at risk.

“Daniel Andrews can’t blame Covid for the tens of thousands of Victorians waiting in pain and needing vital surgery, as waiting list numbers were at record levels prior to the pandemic.

“Only a Liberal and Nationals government has a plan to halving the elective surgery waiting list and getting better outcomes for Victorians.”

More sick Victorians needing treatment are spending longer than 24 hours in emergency departments.

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the figures weren’t good enough.

“The increase in patients waiting for emergency care are a huge concern and which demonstrate the extent of the health crisis,” she said.

“Extensive delays are putting the lives of Victorians at risk.

“Daniel Andrews can’t blame Covid for the tens of thousands of Victorians waiting in pain and needing vital surgery, as waiting list numbers were at record levels prior to the pandemic.

“Only a Liberal and Nationals government has a plan to halving the elective surgery waiting list and getting better outcomes for Victorians.”

Victorian Healthcare Association deputy CEO Juan Paolo Legaspi said a lot of work was required to help Ambulance Victoria and hospitals manage the multiple peaks in demand due to Covid throughout the year.

“As much as we wish Covid-19 was behind us, it isn’t. Our health system is now preparing for a Covid-19 wave in December when they would usually experience lower demand for emergency care and have staff on leave to spend time with their families,” he said.

“It’s a really difficult time to be running public health services.

“CEOs are now having to try and predict when there is a slight lull in demand so they can try to look after their staff and ensure they take a break.

“All of this is being carefully balanced against how long patients are waiting for care.”