Melbourne man dies while waiting four hours for ambulance amid major shortage
- Elderly patient suffered a fall at 2am
- Emergency services did not arrive until 6am
- Due to limited resources
An elderly man has died after waiting four hours for an ambulance in Melbourne’s west, in what the emergency workers’ union has described as a serious staff shortage.
Danny Hill, secretary of the Victorian Ambulance Union, said the 69-year-old Surrey Hills man could be heard screaming for help after falling in his home at around 2am on Saturday.
The union leader told media that the man’s neighbours had called an ambulance, but due to limited resources, an ambulance did not arrive at the house until around 6am.
Mr Hill said the death was “incredibly sad” and devastating for the man’s family, as well as for the call and emergency services who tried to help the patients.
“But given the limited resources and the heavy workload it has simply become impossible,” he told the Herald Sun.
‘You can never predict what would have happened if the emergency services had arrived earlier.
‘But, judging by all the reports, he did shout, so you would think the situation would have been very different if we had gotten to that gentleman in time.’
According to Hill, 50 ambulance crews were offline, or “dropped out,” on Saturday night because a large number of paramedics were sick.
An elderly man died after waiting four hours for an ambulance (stock photo)
The result was that that evening in the state of Victoria only 90 of the normal 120 crews were working the night shift.
Ambulance Victoria told Nine Papers in a statement that the case was being reviewed and the man’s death would be referred to the coroner.
“Our deepest condolences go out to the patient’s family at this very sad time,” the agency said.
“We would like to thank the people in the community who alerted Triple-0.”
Ambulance Victoria further stated that the health system was extremely busy due to seasonal illnesses.
Early Saturday morning, there were only 90 ambulance crews working in Victoria
Danny Hill, secretary of the Victorian Ambulance Union, described the patient’s death as “very sad”
“We have as many crews on the road as possible and our priority will always be to respond to the sickest and most time-critical patients,” Ambulance Victoria said.
‘We use a dynamic operating model that allows us to reallocate resources as needed to minimize scheduling impact.’