Paramedics forced to wait up to three hours to offload patients at Geelong hospital

A surge in demand which led to paramedics waiting up to three hours to offload their patients on Thursday night is being blamed on winter illnesses.

A surge in demand which led to paramedics waiting up to three hours at Geelong hospital to offload their patients is being blamed on winter illnesses.

The Victorian Ambulance Union said 11 paramedic crews were ramped for three hours while an anonymous source claimed 19 ambulances were waiting at one point.

A Barwon Health spokesman said there was a significant surge in ambulance arrivals on Thursday, with 40 arriving within six hours.

“The last two days have seen 82 ambulance arrivals per day, compared to this year’s daily average of 70 per day,” he said.

“Each year, the winter season significantly increases the number of people seeking treatment and requiring hospital admission, creating greater demand across our system.

“All patients seeking emergency treatment are triaged according to clinical need.”

Victorian Ambulance Union assistant secretary Olga Bartesek said there were more cases coming through the ambulance and health systems than resources available.

“Many cases tend to be non-urgent and an ambulance is dispatched, but a hospital has to prioritise urgent cases so the ambulance is ramped,” she said.

“Then we see paramedics used like hospital staff to monitor and look after patients.”

Ms Bartesek said an agreement between Ambulance Victoria and the health sector on the “fit to sit” policy, which is used in other states, would ease some of the load.

“A decision needs to be made about the parameters – blood pressure, heart rates, co-morbidities – of the policy so both organisations can agree when, how and why a patient can be taken off an ambulance stretcher and sit in the waiting room,” she said.

An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said paramedics are committed to transferring patients to hospital care as soon as possible to allow crews to get back on the road and respond to emergency incidents.

A Victorian government spokesman urged people to save ambulances for the “sickest and most critical patients”.

“We know seasonal illnesses such as flu and COVID-19 are starting to take hold as the cold weather starts to set in – leading to an increase in demand for our ambulance services and hospitals,” the spokesman said.

Barwon Health continues to treat all category 1 emergency department patients in the clinically recommended time.

It comes after a surge in ambulances being ramped at Geelong hospital last week.

Polwarth Liberal MP Richard Riordan said 13 ambulances were ramped on June 6 and another five on June 7.

He said such situations led to potentially long response times across the region, and he believed insufficient funding for Barwon Health’s emergency department meant paramedics were being called upon to stay with patients.

Originally published as Paramedics forced to wait up to three hours to offload patients at Geelong hospital