Victorian Ambulance Union Secretary Danny Hill told The Age that a paramedic who worked with the red code said his 14-hour break without a break until 5 a.m. had been “destroying the soul.” .
Hill said several life support ambulance crews had called for help from paramedics from the Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) overnight, but none were available.
Danny Hill, the secretary of the Victorian Ambulance Union.
“This means that they have a patient who is sick enough that they not only require advanced life support treatment, but also need intensive care treatment … But unfortunately, resources are so scarce when he is so busy, but often there has no MICA resource able to respond “.
Hill said there were 12 ambulance crews at Royal Melbourne Hospital in the early hours of Sunday, and some had to stay with patients for more than four hours. The ambulance ramp is where paramedics have to wait in the hospital because a patient has not yet been chosen or there are no beds in the emergency department.
Ambulances are now “absorbing the workload of the entire health care system” across this ramp, Hill said, and there needs to be a national approach to change course.
“I really want to see real national involvement in this issue because much of that is under the federal system, which is primary care, care for the elderly, and care for the disabled,” he said.
An ambulance travels the Melbourne CBD. Credit: Paul Rovere
“Much of this is spilling over into the ambulance arena, even though ambulances are meant to do a very specific job, which is to treat and transport patients with medical injuries or immediate emergency illnesses.”
A spokeswoman for Royal Melbourne Hospital said it had been “another busy night” for its emergency department, with 211 patients presenting on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
“We thank the community for their patience and support,” he said.
Ambulance Victoria said there were about 170 paramedics discharged each day this week due to COVID-19, which contributed to the red code on Sunday morning.
“We’re not immune to it, we’re like everyone else,” Mackay said.
“So we’re experiencing this as a permanent challenge, and obviously with the flu season, it’s going to be a challenge.”
Mackay said that while he does not believe the Victoria ambulance is in a precarious position, the availability of an ambulance would continue to cause problems during the winter.
“The paramedic in me is far from saying we were in crisis [when the code red was called]but what I would say is that it is definitely a continuous and challenging environment, ”he said.
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“We’re managing it, like everyone else, the best we can.”
Opposition leader Matthew Guy said the management of the Andrews government’s health care system was chaotic, in part because several health ministers had resigned during the pandemic.
He said the new Health Minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, was “hiding” and that Victorians deserve better.
“They’ve had two years and the longest confinements in the world to prepare us and it’s clear they haven’t done any work and they haven’t prepared anything,” he said. “The end result of this is that we have our seventh code red this year. That’s outrageous.”
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