A 69-year-old man died after falling in his east Melbourne house while waiting four hours for an ambulance.
Ambulance Victoria is investigating the tragedy, which occurred while at least 50 crews were off the road due to a rise in sick leave, according to the paramedics’ union.
The shortage, which the union blamed on overwork leaving paramedics “burnt out and exhausted,” left Melbourne with only 30 ambulances and some places up to 100 miles from their nearest ambulances.
An ambulance arrived for the Surrey Hills man at 6.06 a.m. today, but it was too late.
His neighbour, who first contacted triple zero at 2 a.m. after hearing the man plead for help, described the situation as “very distressing”.
“They told me that there would probably be about 40 to 60 minutes waiting time,” a neighbour claimed.
Instead, the man was forced to cry in pain until his neighbour contacted triple zero again when he went silent.
Eventually, a non-emergency ambulance arrived, and firefighters had to break in, but it was too late.
Victoria was down 50 ambulances overnight, with only 1% of the fleet accessible at one point and the nearest paramedics to the CBD in Cranbourne.
Danny Hill, secretary of the Victorian Ambulance Union, stated that some code one cases, which are considered high-priority and time-critical, waited more than an hour for an ambulance.
“If you call for help, you expect to get it,” he told me.
“When it’s busy, there are delays but a four-hour delay really just doesn’t give someone who’s critically unwell a chance of surviving.”
An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman expressed their heartfelt condolences to the patient’s family.
“We can confirm this case is being reviewed to better understand the circumstances and we’ll be engaging with the family to ensure they are updated as this progresses,” the spokespersons stated.
“As this matter will also be referred to the Coroner, it would be inappropriate to discuss the details of the case at this stage.”
According to the union, members stated that crews had to drive more than 60 km to reach certain code one instances.
Approximately 20 personnel were deployed from rural locations, including Hamilton, Barwon Heads, Norlane, Warrnambool, Swan Hill, Heathcote, Bendigo, and Mildura.
A minimum of 30 were dropped across Melbourne, including Bayswater, Brighton, Sunshine, Doncaster, Rowville, Mordialloc, Hartwell, North Melbourne, and Oak Park.
“The members rarely take breaks, never finish on time, and are fatigued and burned out. So this is the reality we are confronting,” Hill explained. In Melbourne, there are usually 120 ambulances working night shifts.
According to the union, only 90 were in operation last night.
Jane Miller, CEO of Ambulance Victoria, resigned last month due to escalating strain from continuous union conflicts and increased work expectations.
Ambulance Victoria stated that it had “as many crews on the road as possible” as diseases struck the workforce.
“The health system is extremely busy due to seasonal illness circulating within our communities and our workforce, and we acknowledge the workload of our paramedics right across the state,” according to a representative.
“We have as many teams on the road as feasible, and our top priority will always be to react to the sickest and most urgently needed patients.
“We use a dynamic operating model that relocates resources as necessary to minimise rostering impacts.”
