Vic: Emergency patients at risk on hospitals delays -rpt

The documents, obtained by the Herald Sun under Freedom of Information, detail the duty manager logs of Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) from June 14 to June 29.

They revealed that emergency ambulances were delayed unloading patients at overcrowded hospitals at least 78 times over the period.

Two patients had to wait more than three hours, four waited more than two hours and 29 were stuck in a queue more than an hour, the Herald Sun said.

All delayed recorded in the logs were put down to a lack of hospital beds, the report said.

The logs also showed a large rise in ambulance diversions under the Hospital Early Warning System (HEWS), under which all but the most urgent medical cases are sent to other hospitals.

HEWS operated for 218 hours over the 16-day period - almost 50 per cent more time than the record reported rate in May last year.

Ambulance Employees Association secretary Steve McGhie said the system was in crisis.

"There is no question that if it keeps going in this way, something tragic will happen," he told the Herald Sun. "There is just not enough free beds in hospitals or enough ambulance resources to cope."

But MAS chief executive Greg Sassella said the service was coping.

"We try to make sure when the delays do occur it's not for the urgent patients or the time-critical patients," Sassella said.