AMBULANCES are spending more than 1000 hours a month waiting to transfer patients to wards at the west’s three biggest hospitals.
Ambulance Victoria figures show a sharp rise in ‘ramping’ delays – the time from when an ambulance arrives at a hospital to when patients are admitted.
At Werribee Mercy Hospital, paramedics waited with patients on trolleys for 108 hours a month in the 12 months to June, up from 69 hours a month in 2009-10. The wait at Sunshine Hospital was 390 hours a month, up from 241 hours in 2009-10. At Western Hospital, the delay was 563 hours a month, up from 307.
Mercy Health chief executive Linda Mellors said Wyndham’s rapidly expanding population was putting pressure on every part of the hospital’s operations.
“People requiring the most urgent care who present at the Werribee Mercy Hospital emergency department are the first priority,” she said.
Ms Mellors said Wyndham patients were often ferried to the west’s two larger hospitals as Werribee had no intensive care unit on site.
“There are some services we don’t currently offer due to the lack of critical care infrastructure, which can add to wait times as we transfer patients to other hospitals with that infrastructure. We continue to work with the Department of Health and other hospitals to ensure patients get access to the care they require as soon as possible.”
Opposition parliamentary health secretary Wade Noonan said western suburbs hospitals were in gridlock. He blamed the government’s $616 million health funding cuts for the blow-out. “Ambulances are being parked up with patients outside emergency departments across Melbourne because there is a lack of capacity in our hospital system. Longer ramping times at hospitals means patients are waiting longer to get into hospital and there are fewer ambulances available to respond to life-threatening emergencies — this places lives at risk.”
Ambulance Employees Association secretary Steve McGhie said ramping and longer response times went “hand in glove”.
“It’s so frustrating for paramedics to be waiting to offload their patients, knowing there is more emergency work to respond to and they can’t get to it. Clearly there’s not enough hospital beds and staff to deal with demand.”
Health Minister David Davis did not respond to the Weekly’s questions.
