Ambulances ramped for an hour more than the target time at Geelong hospital

At one stage on Wednesday afternoon 11 ambulances were ramped at Geelong hospital. SEE THE VIDEO.

Some of the 11 ambulances ramped at Geelong hospital just before 1pm on Wednesday. Picture: Alison Wynd

Eleven ambulances were ramped at Geelong hospital during the early afternoon on Wednesday as local paramedics continue to operate under “enormous strain”.

Victorian Ambulance Union general secretary Danny Hill said some of the ambulance crews waited at the hospital for as long as one hour and 40 minutes.

He said although sometimes triage took time, 40 minutes was the target to offload patients, find them a bed and complete the necessary paperwork.

Mr Hill said the “fit to sit” health department guideline, which is used for patients who are transported to hospital by ambulance but well enough to sit in a waiting room, needed to become protocol.

“Sometimes paramedics have treated a patient along the way and by the time they get to a hospital they are OK enough to go to the waiting room,” he said.

“There is not a great uptake on that but we would like to see it become protocol so hospitals must prioritise ambulance offload.

“No one is saying the hospitals are not doing there best but the government needs to give firm direction on this and Ambulance Victoria need to be directing ambulances to offload so they can get back into the community.”

An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said 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”.

Ambulance wait times increase for urgent patients

Local ambos are under “enormous strain” as wait times for patients most in need of emergency cares increases, new data shows.

Paramedics in the Barwon South West region faced one its busiest quarters from April to June this year, with more than 7550 code one emergencies.

This is an increase of 6.8 per cent, or 483 more cases, compared to this time last year.

Code one emergencies require urgent paramedic and hospital care, based on information provided at the time of the triple-0 call.

Ambulance Victoria (AV) data has also revealed the average response time for code one emergencies had increased to 13.55 minutes in the June quarter from 13.37 minutes in the March quarter.

Victorian Ambulance Union general secretary Danny Hill said response times were heading in the “wrong direction”.

Victorian Ambulance Union general secretary Danny Hill.

He said local paramedics were spending more time ramped at hospitals which meant less time available to respond to emergency patients.

“They are under enormous strain,” he said.

“They don’t want to be taken away from the emergency work they have trained for because they are being ramped at hospitals or called to trivial cases.”

Mr Hill said crews from the outer suburbs of Melbourne, including Werribee, and from Bacchus Marsh were often having to respond to calls in Geelong.

“Intensive care ambulances are often unavailable so they need to be sent down from Melbourne to Geelong,” he said.

“That could be the difference between life and death.”

AV Barwon South West regional director Jessica McGowan said April to June was the busiest quarter across the state on record with more than 102,000 code one cases.

“The entire health system continues to be extremely busy due to seasonal illness such as flu, Covid-19 and RSV,” she said.

Ms McGowan said it was important for patients to consider alternative care options to keep paramedics available for patients most in need.

Data from the Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI) showed wait times at Geelong hospital had also increased.

The 90th percentile wait time – the amount of time in which 90 per cent of all patients presenting to ED were seen by a doctor of nurse – was 179 minutes in the June quarter, compared to 172 minutes in the March quarter.

Barwon Health emergency services director Belinda Hibble said the organisation was committed to improving access to Emergency Department care.

“We are pleased to see some improvements in access compared to the previous year, including our average time to commencing care for patients seeking emergency treatment,” she said.

“The transfer of patients from ambulances is a priority and we’ve implemented several measures to reduce extended waiting times for ambulance patients.”

Dr Hibble said Barwon Health was pleased to see a reduction in the number of people attending the Emergency Department at University Hospital Geelong in the March quarter.

“The ongoing partnerships with GPs, community-based services, primary care providers, and private hospitals are giving more options for the community to access care when needed,” she said.

“The Barwon Health North nurse practitioner-led urgent care centre has seen a significant increase in patients, which is having a positive impact on the demand for care at the University Hospital Geelong ED.”

Geelong hospital’s elective surgery waitlist has decreased to 1583 in the June quarter from 1681 in March.

Barwon Health has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as Ambulances ramped for an hour more than the target time at Geelong hospital