The Royal Melbourne Hospital’s emergency room was “bed-blocked” this morning, with no beds available for patients.

Patients transported by ambulance were stuck on stretchers inside the hospital, leaving paramedics waiting outside for their stretchers to be freed up.

Director of emergency at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Associate Professor Mark Putland, says it’s not just COVID-19 that’s straining the hospital system.

“The demand is higher than its ever been,” he told Neil Mitchell. “But it’s not out of proportion with what we would has expected if you looked at our long term trends over the last 20 years this is where we would expect to be now in terms of demand, it’s just that it was hidden for a couple of years.”

Professor Putland said hospitals have also got slower at discharging patients, and there have been many staff leaving the industry due to work pressures during COVID-19.

He’s concerned about how overwhelmed hospitals will cope this winter.

“What worries me is time of year that we’re in — the end of autumn — that we’re already in this state,” he said.

“It is a concern for how the winter is going to play out.”

Press PLAY below to hear why Professor Putland is “worried”