DELAYS in transferring patients from ambulances at Werribee Mercy Hospital have more than doubled over the past two years.
Figures showing paramedics spent 160 hours a month waiting outside the hospital in the second half of last year have prompted claims that ambulances are becoming “pop-up emergency departments” because hospitals lack the funding to handle massive population growth.
According to Ambulance Victoria data released under freedom of information, the time spent ‘ramping’, from when an ambulance arrives at a hospital to when the patient is admitted, has risen sharply from 2009-10 when it was fewer than 70 hours a month.
SEE: Code 1 alert on ambulance response
Mercy Health chief executive Linda Mellors said Wyndham’s rapidly expanding population was putting pressure on every part of the hospital’s operations. 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 blowout.
A government spokeswoman said Labor was being deceitful by comparing full-year figures with only six months of data and failed to factor in seasonal pressure and population growth.
Ambulance Victoria regional manager Simon Thomson said it was aware ramping delays were frustrating for paramedics. “We have been and will continue to work closely with hospitals and the Department of Health on a number of initiatives to free up paramedics to respond to life-threatening emergencies.”
