Victorian Ambulance Union says GP shortage is putting paramedics under the pump

Victoria's ambulance union says lives could be saved, if more patients were seen by GPs, as non emergency calls continue to clog up the system.

Union secretary Danny Hill said paramedics are under the pump and more GPs could be the solution to addressing the ongoing emergency crisis.

"There is no question that we have patients that have passed away that could have been saved by paramedics," he said.

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"We've got patients going into cardiac arrest in the community and our paramedics can't respond often because they're tied up at quite low acuity cases that could be treated by a GP."

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners says there is a shortage and work needs to be done to attract more doctors.

RACGP Victoria's Dr Anita Munoz said there was a lack of long term funding into general practitioners.

"The federated model of funding in health no longer makes as much sense as it used to," she said.

The Northern Hospital has been running a virtual emergency department for patients with non life threatening emergencies.

The ambulance union said services like this were offering patients more options.

"It frees them up so they can go and respond to more time critical cases," Mr Hill said.

"Super clinics are also a fantastic option."