An ambulance union boss says Victoria"can't afford" cuts to the healthcare system, detailing how hospital staff shortages are causing widespread ramping problems, with one patient left waiting for seven hours outside a major Melbourne hospital.
Asked about the reports on Thursday, the union official said staff shortages at Victorian hospitals were leading to paramedics being forced to spend hours waiting to unload their patients, with one case this week seeing an ambulance crew waiting with a patient for seven hours at the Austin Hospital. "Right now we've got evidence of a lot of ramping in Geelong, in Swan Hill, in Bairnsdale, in Warrnambool. So, you know, everywhere suffers from this problem. Nowhere is immune.
“They go past many towns that actually have a little community hospital to get to a major regional centre like Geelong or Ballarat or Bendigo,” Mr Hill said. The union official said there had been half a dozen ambulances ramped for several hours at the Austin hospital overnight, with one patient being forced to wait so long for care that a second ambulance crew had to be called to the hospital to look after them after shift change.
The Victorian state government has been accused of making"savage cuts" to the healthcare system that will see patients"suffer", after the government ordered regional and rural hospitals to slash costs ahead of the upcoming budget.Mr Hill said the state government had “let down” his union members, before describing what union members were doing to bring awareness to the issue.
Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)
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