Australia’s Omicron wave is placing “unprecedented” pressure on ambulance response times across the country, due to soaring demand for emergency healthcare coinciding with Covid isolation requirements sidelining hundreds of paramedics.
With active infections of Covid-19 across the country exceeding 1 million, Ambulance Victoria issued a code red alert on Tuesday – the second time it has taken the extreme measure in a week – as it grapples with “extremely high demand for ambulances” in metropolitan Melbourne.
“It is likely there will be a delay in an ambulance reaching you,” Ambulance Victoria said in a statement, also urging residents to contact other medical supports or visit their local GP “if their illness is not an emergency”.
“Our priority is to provide care to Victorians who require life-saving assistance,” the statement said.
Acknowledging the shortfall of paramedics in his state, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said that on Monday 442 ambulance staff were either isolating with Covid-19 or were close contacts.
“I expect that number is in fact higher, and that does put great pressure on our system,” he said. “It’s not a matter of money or a matter of machines … it’s qualified staff, it’s people who provide healthcare.”
Victoria’s code red declaration follows reports in recent days that surf lifesavers, students and volunteers were filling hundreds of paramedic shifts each week in the state.
In New South Wales, ambulance services are also under severe strain.
On Tuesday, NSW Ambulance apologised to a Sydney couple who said there were no ambulances immediately available to help their newborn baby who was not breathing.
After the mother – who works as a midwife – gave birth unexpectedly in their Sydney home on the morning of 2 January, they realised their newborn son was not breathing.
The couple said the ambulance service could not tell them how long it would be before an ambulance arrived, so they decided to drive to hospital instead, resuscitating the newborn on the way.
The child entered neonatal intensive care and has since recovered.
Guardian Australia understands it is common protocol for ambulance call centre operators to avoid offering callers an arrival time, however the organisation has said it is investigating “the circumstances surrounding this incident and a review is underway”.
A NSW Ambulance spokesman told Guardian Australia that the seven-day rolling average for triple zero callouts is nearly 4,500 each day.
He said that prior to the Omicron outbreak, daily call volume records had not exceeded 4,000.
“The service is currently facing unprecedented demand,” he said. “All available operational staff have been surged.”
In ambulance control centres, “50 extra call takers have been surged”, he said. “NSW Ambulance also recalled 11 emergency medical call takers who were sent to Victoria to assist in control centres there.
“Our virtual clinical care centre has also been bolstered with 22 clinical support assistants commencing duties facilitating call backs to patients experiencing longer than usual delays. More staff will come on board this month.”
NSW Ambulance experienced an all time peak in demand 1 January, when 5,120 triple zero calls were received, and the service has been urging residents to only call in emergencies.