Ambulance ramping at Maroondah Hospital forces paramedics to call for back-up to treat patient
An investigation will be launched following reports an Ambulance Victoria crew was forced to call back-up paramedics to treat a patient after being told there were no free beds at Maroondah Hospital.
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00:00Maroondah Hospital is a picture of order today, but yesterday morning it was anything but.
00:08It's disturbing that that's the level of the care that's being provided in our health system.
00:13The emergency department staff so overwhelmed that it was left to ambulance crews to treat
00:17a woman suffering from severe heart issues.
00:20In this context I don't think we've ever seen this before.
00:23The extraordinary series of events began when the ambulance attended to a woman suffering
00:28cardiac arrhythmia.
00:29They travelled a few minutes to Maroondah Hospital, on the way notifying the facility
00:34they were arriving with a patient requiring urgent care.
00:38The ambulance was ramped for 50 minutes and in that time the patient's condition worsened.
00:43The hospital didn't have any beds and weren't prepared to treat the patient.
00:47So the ambulance was left with no choice but to call in a specialised paramedics crew to
00:51treat her.
00:52It's completely frightening that this is happening in a major metropolitan hospital.
00:57The government today announcing it would launch an investigation into the incident.
01:01That I want to know exactly what has gone on here.
01:04Ambulance Victoria's new interim CEO says he's been hearing from paramedics who are
01:09being regularly overworked and angry at previous management's handling of pay negotiations.
01:15How would you describe the relationship between managers at Ambulance Victoria and the paramedics?
01:21You know I've been there for a week.
01:23It is a fresh start with me coming in.
01:25But he won't be around for long before he heads away for two months on a pre-arranged holiday.
01:30Ambulance Victoria will not live or die by Andrew Crisp being around.
01:36The incident at Maroondah Hospital comes as the government deals with administrative issues
01:40at the Royal Children's Hospital.
01:42The hospital's outgoing boss is taking the health department to court, claiming its secretary
01:47intervened to block her being reappointed by the board.
01:51I was advised of that but this is now a matter between Bernadette McDonald and my department.
02:00A department not short of problems to solve.