Paramedics have raised safety concerns for residents after Whittlesea was left without ambulance services for 11 hours on April 6.
Whittlesea paramedics were caught up at the Royal Melbourne Hospital for eight hours after transporting a patient early in the shift.
They were then sent to a suspected cardiac arrest in Greenvale at 1.30am on their way back, resulting in the Whittlesea area remaining uncovered until they returned at 4am.
The closest ambulances to Whittlesea are stationed at Epping and Craigieburn, both about a 25-minute drive away.
Ambulance Employees Australia secretary Steve McGhie said uncovered areas and dropped shifts were happening “far more frequently than ever before”.
He attributed this to understaffing, which posed a “greater risk to the public” in an emergency. ‘‘If an ambulance goes out of town for a considerable period of time, they [Ambulance Victoria] need to make sure another ambulance is sent in and put on standby at the branch to cover while the ambulance is away.’’
Mr McGhie said Ambulance Victoria tried to make this happen, but in many cases the ambulance was used before it reached the station.
Ambulance Victoria group manager Anthony Carlyon said factors such as a higher than usual workload were to blame, but every effort was made to make sure ambulances were available in the vicinity.
“When a local ambulance is on another case, we can move ambulances around to get the best response and medical outcomes for our patients,” he said.
State Health Minister David Davis said the government ‘‘inherited a system in crisis’’ in 2010, and was working with Ambulance Victoria to ‘‘fix’’ the industry.
