Ambulance Victoria (AV) experienced an extremely high demand for ambulances in the metropolitan region on Saturday 3 December.
An AV spokesperson said they have a detailed Emergency Response Plan and escalation procedures to effectively manage a surge in workload and demand.
“At approximately 11.59pm, a red escalation response was activated in the metropolitan region with normal operations returning at 3.00am. Staffing challenges due to Covid-19 and increasing workload resulted in limited availability of ambulances with some ‘lights and sirens’ emergency calls being delayed,” they said.
“All measures we take during a red escalation are aimed at getting to the sickest patients as quickly as possible, which is always our priority. These measures quickly reduced the impact on our services and freed up ambulances for patients in the community.”
“As part of a whole health system, paramedics are not immune to the current spread of Covid-19 in the community. Ambulance Victoria currently has around 140 staff furloughed due to Covid-19, which has increased from around 30 at the start of October and presents significant resourcing challenges.”
Upon activation of a red escalation, immediate actions are taken including:
Messaging to alert community of extreme ambulance demand
Additional staff being recalled
Managers returning to duty to manage hospital transfers
Rapid offloading of patients at hospital
Lower acuity patients being referred to other services
Non-emergency ambulances responding to emergencies
In times of high demand, the community is asked to please call NURSE-ON-CALL (1300 60 60 24) or visit their local GP if their illness is not an emergency.
Ambulance Victoria’s priority is to provide care to Victorians who require life-saving assistance.
