Victoria hit by emergency crisis amid 200 days of ambo shortages
Shocking depth of Victoria’s ambulance crisis exposed by official logs revealing some workload and demand emergencies lasting as long as 16 hours.
A Victorian ambulance crisis has been exposed by official logs revealing the state’s lifesaving service recorded more than 200 days of shortages with some emergencies lasting as long as 16 hours.
Ambulance Victoria service reports obtained by The Australian reveal “workload and demand” alerts – referred to as code oranges – were regularly activated between September 2023 and March 2025.
The performance data reveals the crisis peaked during a four-month period between March and June 2024 with more than 50 code oranges issued covering more than 500 hours as ambulances battled to cope with demand.
The longest code orange during this period lasted for an alarming 16 hours started on May 13 when ambulances in Melbourne’s northern suburbs struggled to keep up with medical emergencies from 4pm to 8am the next day.
Multiple code oranges activated during the four months dragged on for between 10 and 15 hours, the Ambulance Victoria logs reveal, as the service faced significant pressure as call volumes spiked amid limited ambulance availability.
A code orange is an emergency escalation plan used by Ambulance Victoria to manage high demand and juggle resources and it alerts the entire healthcare system, including hospitals, to potential strain.
The Allan government has been under fire as Victoria’s ambulance service has battled a range of problems, including a staffing shortage and hospital ramping, that has seen some emergency patients forced to wait for hours.
The crisis has been blamed for deaths of two patients this year who died while waiting for ambulances, including an elderly Blackburn man who bled to death after falling and hitting his head. Earlier this year, there were reports that one third of the service’s metropolitan fleet was rendered out of action on a Saturday night after dozens of staff called in sick.
The Allan government has defended its investment in Ambulance Victoria and said many of the problems are being driven by a 35 per cent increase in demand for emergency medical care over the past five years.
“Our paramedics have never been busier, facing record demand — and we’re backing them in with more funding, training and support so they can keep providing world-class care in every corner of Victoria,” the Minister for Ambulance Services, Mary-Anne Thomas, said in a statement to The Australian.
The Ambulance Victoria performance logs from September 1 2023 to March 26 2025 reveal there were more than 260 code oranges activated and the bulk, around 200, were triggered by ambulance shortages and surging emergency demand.
About 60 code oranges were called for issues unrelated to workload such as thunderstorm asthma risk, bushfires, flooding, extreme heat, missing people, factory fires and land slides.
The performance data reveals clusters of ambulance shortages have struck Victoria during the 18-month period with September 2023 among the worst months. The logs reveal that on September 1 there was a 14-hour code orange and this was followed by a 9-hour crisis on September 3.
Code oranges lasted for 13 hours on September 13, 11 hours on September 25 and 10 hours on September 30, the performance logs reveal.
Across three consecutive days in late 2023 – November 8, 9 and 10 – Victoria’s ambulance service was operating under a crippling code orange for a combined 40 hours.
The crisis extended through the summer of 2024 with code oranges called on February 13 (13 hours), February 15 (9 hours), February 17 (6 hours), February 18 (8 hours) and February 20 (11 hours).
The crisis has extended into 2025, the logs reveal, with Ambulance Victoria ordering 21 code oranges between January and March, with most lasting between six and 11 hours.
In defending its ambulance record, the Allan Government has pointed to more than $2bn pumped into the service in recent years to boost ambulance officer numbers, open 41 new and upgraded ambulance stations and establish a new Centre for Paramedicine in partnership with Victoria University.
The Allan government has also announced new training schemes to train more MICA paramedics and in the 2025/26 state budget announced $84m investment was being pumped into services to fund 15 dual paramedic ambulance crews, four peak-period units and four 24-hour ambulance services in regional Victoria.
Another $58m was announced to improve emergency departments so they can treat patients sooner in a bid to reduce ambulance ramping at hospitals.
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