![Concerns have been raised about ramping at Warrnambool hospital. File picture Concerns have been raised about ramping at Warrnambool hospital. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/nB9BrLNgExsfwsLgDBevWP/9af9ef08-9d7a-429d-8de0-c2b5c97b2c14.png/r2_0_663_361_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Concerns have been raised about ramping at Warrnambool Base Hospital with a paramedic confirming it was a common occurrence.
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The Standard was contacted this week by Terang resident Paul Herry after a family member had gone to the hospital on Saturday and was surprised how busy it was and faced a long wait to be seen.
But he was also shocked to hear there was an ambulance with a patient waiting outside.
"You hear about ramping in Melbourne and Ballarat," Mr Herry said.
"I thought, that can't be right. It can't happen in Warrnambool and the great south-west.
"It was just overload in the emergency room.
"To me, it's a big worry."
While South West Healthcare didn't comment on ramping at the weekend, a spokesperson said there had been a slightly higher than average number of presentations to the Emergency Department on Saturday.
David Keane, who has been a paramedic for more than 12 years - about eight of those in Warrnambool - said as the city had grown, services hadn't kept up.
"When I started in Warrnambool, 90 per cent of the time we'd get a bed straight away whereas now that's certainly not the case," Mr Keane said.
"It's an almost daily occurrence for ambulances to be ramped one to two hours."
It was uncommon but sadly there were instances from time to time where an ambulance was ramped for three to four hours, Mr Keane said.
He said he hoped once the new emergency department was completed things would start to change.
"Whilst we're ramped, we're unable to respond to calls in the community," he said.
But despite the higher-than-average presentations, the hospital did not call a code yellow across the weekend.
Last month, the hospital had to call a code yellow as the hospital came under pressure but they were able to quickly deal with the situation within the hour.
A code yellow is an internal emergency that means the hospital's systems are unable to cope with demand.