Expert warns emergency medicine in worst state for decades

Australia’s emergency medical services are at crisis point, according to doctor and ambulance unions. Health workers say emergency departments are routinely at capacity and paramedics are waiting hours for patients hand overs.

The Emergency Department of St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney. Source: Getty Images AsiaPac

Packed emergency departments, increased ambulance wait times and burned out medical staff: doctors claim the strain on the health and hospital system is the worst it’s been in decades. During the height of COVID in Australia Emergency Department presentation declined, elective surgeries were cancelled, tele-medicine was widely used, and infectious diseases like influenza dropped significantly. But emergency department presentations are now exceeding pre COVID levels and doctors are struggling.