Couple say they waited 10 hours at emergency as Geelong battles with ambulance ramping and huge strain on resources

A Geelong couple cut their holiday short when one of them got really sick but the ordeal continued when they arrived home to a health system under siege.

A Geelong couple is calling on the state government to step in and help Geelong’s beleaguered health service after they waited 10- hours for treatment in the under-siege emergency department.

David Ryall was three days into a Vietnam holiday with his wife Jules when he fell ill.

The couple cut their trip short and headed back to Geelong so Mr Ryall could receive treatment.

Hopping straight off the plane, they headed to Geelong hospital’s emergency department.

They arrived at 11.30am on Tuesday, July 30 and the wait began.

David Ryall and Jules McDonald. Picture: Alan Barber

“There were no beds available and there were no cubicles available … there were people on stretchers just in the hallways,” Mr Ryall said.

“The emergency room was just full the whole time … it was just a constant flow of people.”

During the wait, Mr Ryall symptoms continued and he fluctuated between feeling “really hot, then really cold”. It was later revealed he had both pneumonia and glandular fever.

About 6pm, Mr Ryall said he was told he could either keep waiting or be sent home with some antibiotics.

Geelong couple Jules McDonald and David Ryall in Vietnam last month. Picture: supplied.

The doctor recommended they stay and get admitted, so they did, but it wasn’t until about 9.30pm that he was put on a drip.

The following morning Mr Ryall was admitted to a ward where he stayed for several days.

Multiple ambulances have been ramped outside Geelong hospital over the past week.

Mr Ryall, who is set to return to work this week, praised medical staff but said they had to get help from authorities.

“The nurses and doctors were incredible … they did everything possible with the tools that they had,” Mr Ryall said.

“They just kept saying they were overwhelmed with how many sick people were coming in, and how many ambulances were ramped.

“It snowballs from the ambulance ramping, which then affects people that are actually in the emergency waiting room,” he said.

Geelong’s ambulance crisis deepened on Friday afternoon, with multiple ambulances parked along Ryrie St outside the hospital.

There were 18 ambulances ramped about 2.30pm that day, according to vision posted on social media by radio personality Jacqui Felgate.

An anonymous source said they thought “every ambulance in Geelong” was ramped at one point.
There were at least 11 ambulances ramped for three hours on Wednesday and reports that ramping was also an issue Thursday.

Geelong’s ambulance crisis deepened on Friday afternoon, with ambulances throughout Ryrie St.

Paramedic Ben David said the region’s paramedics were “frustrated with getting stuck at hospital for hours on end and being unable to respond to medical emergencies in the community”.

“Ramping at hospital, along with inaccuracies in AV’s call-taking and dispatch system, lead to delays responding to true medical emergencies,” Mr David said.

“These delays can have a devastating impact on health outcomes of patients”

Barwon Health declined to comment when contacted by the Geelong Advertiser on Friday.

An AV spokesman said its crews were “committed to working with hospitals to transfer patients to the appropriate hospital care as soon as possible, allowing our paramedics to get back on the road and respond to emergency incidents”.

Originally published as Couple say they waited 10 hours at emergency as Geelong battles with ambulance ramping and huge strain on resources