Victorians wait hours for help during Code Red as Ambulance Victoria overwhelmed by demand
Some Victorians were forced to wait hours for an ambulance overnight as Ambulance Victoria enacted a Code Red emergency measure amid overwhelmingly high demand.
Just one per cent of Metropolitan Melbourne crews were available to respond to ambulance callouts at the height of the Code Red, which was in place between 11.50pm yesterday and 2am today.
George Nicola and his violently ill 86-year-old mother had to wait four hours for an ambulance after he desperately called Triple Zero.
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Victorian Ambulances at the St. Vincent Hospital Getty
He was asked to drive her to hospital instead of waiting for an ambulance, but refused.
"I felt, desperate I didn't know what to do," he said.
"There's no way I can get her to a car and to a hospital. She needed urgent medical help.
"It's just unbelievable that with the system that we have here, no ambulances are available."
Victoria Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said Ambulance Victoria experienced an influx of calls with cold and flu symptoms while ambulance crews were left ramped at hospitals.
The high demand forced more staff to urgently be called in.
rgency departments mean crews who transported one patient could be stuck outside hospitals for hours, unable to respond to other cases.
Mr Hill said the pressure on eme
He has taken to social media to remind Victorians that Triple 000 is only for emergencies, warning that "with flu season coming" the situation experienced overnight is likely to recur.
"Frankly sometimes people are calling Triple Zero when they don't need to," he told 9News.
Ambulance Victoria has issued a statement saying the situation overnight was able to be quickly resolved with services returning to normal within two hours.
People who are not in an emergency are encouraged to call Nurse on Call on 1300 606 024 to help free up ambulances.
Ambulance Victoria called its third-ever Code Red one night in January in response to extreme demand.
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