Emergency medical jobs spike as problems left untreated in pandemic

It's believed that people left underlying medical problems untreated during the peak of the pandemic, which has led to the increase in demand for emergency treatment.

Paramedics attended 563 life-threatening cases in the Wodonga region, including some jobs in Albury, from April to June.

They reached about 87 per cent of the jobs within 15 minutes, which is better than the state average of 73 per cent.

Hume acting regional director Narelle Capp said the demand for emergency care had increased by 20 per cent compared to the same period last year.

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"Here in Hume we are dealing with an extraordinary workload, which is also being experienced by crews right across the state," Ms Capp said.

"This is leading to congestion at hospitals, where lengthening transfer times at emergency departments are impacting on our crews being available to respond to the next person in need."

Across the state, paramedics attended the largest number of jobs on record from April to June, with 84,441 cases in that period.

Concerns have been raised about the number of people calling Triple-0 for incidents that did not need an emergency response, with 37,000 incidents over three months.

A further 20,000 patients who received paramedic treatment did not require hospitalisation.

There are plans to add 56 paramedic positions in regional areas in the next two years.

"This is great news for Ambulance Victoria and the community we serve," Ambulance Victoria chief executive Tony Walker said.

"Demand growth and Covid-19 have placed sustained pressure on performance and our people."

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