Montrose, Ringwood and Yarra Junction were among 30 ambulance branches in metro Melbourne to drop ambulance crews overnight on Saturday 14 September according to the Victorian Ambulance Union (VAU).
This was paired with at least 20 ambulances also dropped across rural Victoria because of high levels of sick leave.
The VAU stated there are normally approximately 120 ambulances working night shifts each night. On Saturday night only 90 were in action, leaving a significant shortfall of ambulance resources across the Metropolitan Region.
Union members reported the incidents to VAU, also saying that intensive care crews were dropped including MICA8 (Ringwood).
Other reports included:
– Multiple crews calling for Intensive Care back up for critically unwell patients told none are available.
– Code 1 cases held for over an hour for available crews.
– Crews driving 60km or more to get to Code 1 cases.
– Reports that the Metropolitan region dropped to one per cent fleet availability.
VAU secretary Danny Hill said warnings about staffing and conditions have issued.
“The members rarely get breaks, almost never finish on time and they are exhausted and burnt out. So, this is the reality we are facing,” he said.
“We have been warning about the need to better support the workforce, so we have a healthy and well-supported workforce. If you don’t support the workforce, then the response to the community suffers.”
