While the service is dealing with record COVID-19 cases,the source,who was not authorised to speak publicly,said the approximately 1900 emergency calls being received each day was not unusual,and worsening response times were mostly driven by staff shortages across the health system.
They said some large Melbourne metropolitan hospitals were seeing average transfer times between the ambulance staff and the hospital of 70 minutes,and that paid and unpaid students and volunteers have at times made up almost half the Melbourne ambulance staff working overnight.
Ambulance Employees Australia Victorian secretary Brett Adie said it was extremely draining for paramedics working with volunteers with minimal experience on the job.
“I know you can’t go back into lockdowns,but the health system is falling apart.”
With one in four calls to triple zero requesting an ambulance not considered in need of an emergency response,the Victorian public are being asked to save triple-zero for emergencies.
An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said:“We are currently attending more than 280 COVID-19 positive case[s] per day,and this is expected to increase significantly over the coming weeks.”
The inclusion of rapid test results for the first time led to a spike in Victoria’s daily case numbers on Saturday,with more than 26,000 results in the first days of January reported by those using home kits adding to 24,928 new positive PCR tests,a positivity rate nearing 30 per cent.
A week earlier,Victorian Public Transport Minister Ben Carrolldefended the government’s decision not to implement all of Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton’s recommendations before Christmas to constrain the spread of the Omicron variant and keep daily cases under 25,000. Mr Carroll said he did not believe the state would reach that mark.
“From what I’m aware of,that was very much a worst-case scenario,and it’s not expected that we reach those figures,” he said.
In the December 23 advice,Professor Sutton urged the Andrews government to close dance floors,implement density caps in hospitality and require people attending major events to have a negative rapid test before entry.
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New density limits were introduced this week.
The Victorian government is yet to publicly release any new modelling on the expected strain on the hospital system,but on Saturday Health Minister Martin Foley said the most recent modelling from the Burnet Institute and the Doherty Institute suggested infections would peak by mid to late January which would be a “really rugged period”.
“We are working on the basis that,fortunately,whilst Omnicom appears to be a less virulent strain,certainly is a less virulent strain of COVID-19,its sheer infectivity advantage will drive the total number of cases up and from that the likely increase in hospitalisations,” he said.
There are now 731 Victorians with COVID-19 in hospital,an increase of more than 60 per cent in a week.
As the Omicron outbreak was taking hold in NSW,the government pushed ahead with plans to ease restrictions including mask requirements in most settings,with Mr Perrottetsaying “it is a time of personal responsibility for our state”.
In light of escalating cases and hospitalisations,the government has since reinstated a number of rules,including this week,including a ban on dancing and singing until January 27 – effectively forcing nightclubs to close.
Senior doctor and Medical Journal of Australia editor-in-chief Nick Talley said in the lead up to Christmas,when much was still unknown about Omicron,people seemed to be falling into two camps. One group arguing that Omicron appeared so mild people needn’t worry,and others saying due to the sheer number of cases,the risk remained that the health system could collapse
“My view was we shouldn’t let it rip,with the knowledge we had … even if it was a tiny percentage that got really ill,that tiny percentage would turn into huge numbers,” Professor Talley said.
The gastroenterologist said there was an urgent need for an overarching national plan to deal with what he described as “one of the greatest crises in health ever to face this country” - including clear guidance for people who fall sick with COVID-19.
“Our leaders … first of all they messed it up,now they are underplaying it.”
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