Australians face long waits for ambulances and hospital care during winter crisis

Hospitals in Australia have been overwhelmed by a surge in winter illnesses, leading to long wait times for ambulances and emergency department admissions. Patients have had to resort to driving themselves to hospitals due to the lack of available emergency transport.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Those hospitals have been overrun and ambulance is stuck ramped
outside as winter illness takes its toll. Christy Cooper has
the details.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Christy.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
At one point, fifty people were left waiting for emergency transport.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
They were Mike. That was at about five o'clock this morning,
when only four percent into the state's ambulance fleet was
available to respond to triple zero calls. And for those
who did manage to get an ambulance, well, their challenges
continued once they got to hospital. Some emergency departments had
wait times of up to ten hours long. Shane Lawrence
called an ambulance for his six year old daughter when

(00:40):
she collapsed and became unconscious. He ended up giving up
waiting for an ambulance and loading the whole family, including
three children, into the car to drive her to hospital.

Speaker 4 (00:51):
My biggest fear was how quickly can we get an
ambulance here? And that's half the reason why we ended
up throwing everyone in the car and just coming here,
because yeah, like you just don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
We always have hospitals under pressure during the winter and
the flu season, but last I checked, we have a
winter every year, so it's not new. These circumstances that
we should be prepared for.

Speaker 5 (01:13):
Think about virtual Emergency Department, think about nurse on call.
There's are funded resources that are available that you can
access from home. These are really important to help support
and protect ambulances for emergencies.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
In a night like last night, that communication needs to
be put out quite urgently to the public, just like
you would if there was a bushfire or a thunderstall massment.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Around one in five calls to Triple zero do not
require an ambulance. Victorians are being reminded to please save
that service for genuine emergencies.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Mike Christi, thank you. Christy Cooper