Latest news with #DannyHill
Daily Mail
12 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Nat Barr erupts over 'ridiculous' ambulance crisis after just 'one per cent' of the fleet were able to respond to calls and dozens of patients left stranded
Nat Barr has lashed out at the ambulance crisis in Victoria and labelled it 'ridiculous' after it emerged just one per cent of the fleet were able to respond to calls. The Sunrise host demanded authorities fix the issue immediately following revelations that 50 people were left waiting for emergency transport on Monday night. Ambulance data showed more than 25 crews were off the roads across Melbourne due to staff shortages, while at least another 110 crews were stuck ramped at hospitals by 7.15pm. Paramedics were forced to care for patients in the vehicle while waiting for a hospital bed to become available, meaning they couldn't get back out on the road and respond to more calls for help. Danny Hill, from the Victorian Ambulance Union, described it as 'the perfect storm'. 'We had a lot of dropped resources,' he told Barr. 'We had 22 advanced life support and eight mobile intensive care ambulances that actually didn't run on Monday night. 'Compounding that, we had a very busy workload and the hospitals were overwhelmed and, at one point, we believe about 100 crews were ramped at metropolitan hospitals across Melbourne, sometimes for up to ten hours. 'I'm informed it left one per cent of the metropolitan Melbourne ambulance fleet able to respond to anyone in an emergency.' Barr was stunned by the situation and said it needed fixing right away. 'This is an absolute cluster, this is absolutely ridiculous,' she said before asking Mr Hill what would be done about the problem. 'Taxpayers pay for their ambulance service to be there in a time of emergency,' Mr Hill said. 'Too often we see them logged off emergency work to work in hospital corridors, to organise GP appointments and to do social work instead of being free to respond to genuine emergencies. 'Just the other night an ambulance was called to someone complaining of gaming addiction. Paramedics don't have anything to offer that person.' Barr asked why paramedics were receiving calls like the one about the person with a gaming addiction. 'Why isn't someone saying "no" and redirecting them, surely?' she asked. 'Correct, and they're being sent to those calls, that's the problem,' Mr Hill said. 'The calls are coming through, and always will, and some of these patients do need help but not from ambulance paramedics.' Barr said a common-sense approach needed to be taken towards the unforgivable situation Ambulance Victoria found itself in on Monday night. 'Surely someone can fix this, it's just absolutely ridiculous,' she said. Data leaked to the Herald Sun exposed that more than ten major hospitals had wait times of more than two hours by 8pm, with some as high as ten hours. Premier Jacinta Allan said winter was to blame for the spike in demand for ambulances. 'We are clearly in the depths of winter where many people are suffering from the impacts of flus, and Covid is still around, and a lot of respiratory illnesses,' she said. Two Victorians died waiting for ambulances in June alone, including an elderly Blackburn man who bled to death after falling and hitting his head. He phoned for an ambulance twice, but it took almost five hours for one to arrive, while six crews were ramped at Box Hill Hospital, just one suburb away.
Perth Now
24-04-2025
- Perth Now
Ambulance bosses accused of pandemic funeral cover-up
Ambulance executives are being accused of covering up a secret funeral which breached COVID-19 rules, while residents languished under harsh restrictions. A bombshell submission to the Inquiry into Ambulance Victoria claims personnel flouted pandemic restrictions in September 2021 to attend a funeral for a former colleague while Victorians were under one of the world's longest lockdowns. The event was supported by the local manager and approved by former chief executive Tony Walker, with about 40 people attending, the anonymous document claimed. Ambulance commanders, managers, support officers and a band were among the attendees, with some responsible for informing staff of pandemic rules. Tough COVID-19 restrictions at the time included a five-kilometre travel limit, a nightly curfew, and no more than 10 people at funerals. "On-shift paramedics (despite their objections to the funeral event) were directed to rearrange ambulances for the event and to hand over the keys to their ambulances to allow the beacons to be turned on for the hearse," the submission claimed. An email chain used to organise the event indicated the location was chosen to "avoid public eyes" and booked as professional development in workers' calendars. The communications centre placed a warning on one vehicle to ensure it would not be dispatched to a patient while it was travelling to the event, the submission claimed. Victoria's Ambulance Union confirmed the event occurred, but said no paramedics attended the funeral. A guard of honour comprised of staff formed outside an ambulance branch following the funeral, where the hearse was driven past. Union secretary Danny Hill accused Ambulance Victoria of a cover-up by trying to scapegoat a worker for organising some of the event's logistics. "If it is established that AV did the wrong thing under the COVID rules, then they just need to be open and transparent about it," he said. The inquiry submission said paramedics were uncomfortable with other personnel entering their branches for fear of catching COVID-19, but the power imbalance resulted in no one reporting the senior managers. Victoria's corruption watchdog investigated and substantiated the complaint before handing responsibility back to the organisation to take action. Ambulance Victoria executive Jesse Maddison on Thursday confirmed senior decision makers at the time were no longer working for the organisation. Personnel were subjected to disciplinary action, but Mr Maddison would not say what that entailed. Paramedics at the event were off duty and any ambulances were offline, he said. Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the behaviour of senior leaders at the time was "completely and utterly unacceptable". "However, I'm confident that Ambulance Victoria took appropriate action at that time in terms of an investigation and consequences for those involved," she told reporters. Opposition Leader Brad Battin wants a full investigation. "We're seeing a government department effectively (trying) to cover up the fact they had a service available for their own staff that wasn't available for the rest of Victorians," he said. Premier Jacinta Allan said she understood the community would be frustrated about the incident, labelling it "entirely inappropriate".
