Family’s plea after Phil Byrnes died during four-hour wait for ambulance in Melbourne’s east

A man who died while waiting for an ambulance has been identified.

Phil Byrnes, 69, died alone and pleading for help at his Surrey Hills home in Melbourne’s east after waiting nearly four hours during an ambulance shortage over the weekend.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Family demands answers after elderly man dies waiting for ambulance

He had been in hospital with a blocked artery two weeks prior but was discharged and told to wait for surgery. When he needed urgent care in the early hours of Sunday morning, it arrived too late.

His heartbroken family told 7NEWS they felt “failed by the system”.

“He would’ve been cold and alone, probably scared and now he’s gone,” his niece said.

“There’s been nothing for Uncle Phil - no apology, no recognition. They can’t bring him back, I understand that, but put things in place so this doesn’t happen to other families.

“He was so independent, he never asked for help and when he asked, he never got it.”

Victorian Ambulance Union Secretary Danny Hill claims the “tragic” incident occurred as the number of available crews across the city dropped from 120 to 90, requiring paramedics to drive “massive distances” to reach sick patients.

He said, at one point, just one per cent of the ambulance fleet was available.

“It’s been several years since we’ve seen this amount of resources dropped, perhaps only during COVID,” he told AAP.

Hill said Byrnes’ neighbours heard him calling for help about 2am and called triple-0.

“They called triple-0 but because there were no resources available, he waited four hours... when resources finally did become available and they did send an ambulance to the patient, they found the gentleman to be deceased,” he said.

“Even if he got a delayed response, a response within one or two hours, even though that’s way too long, the situation could have been vastly different.”

Hill says a Code Orange should have been declared, to activate measures such as additional staff or collaboration with other health services to help paramedics, however, Ambulance Victoria says the situation on Saturday night didn’t meet the criteria.

The paramedic union has been locked in negotiations over its next enterprise agreement for months, with pay and conditions such as unreasonable overtime emerging as major sticking points.

In August, Ambulance Victoria’s chief executive Jane Miller resigned after 18 months in the role a few weeks after the paramedic union passed a vote of no confidence in the executive board.

Former Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp is interim chief executive during the search for a permanent replacement and is currently on pre-booked leave.

Shadow Health Minister Georgie Crozier said the situation overnight was “extremely concerning”.

“Victoria is at risk when you don’t have an ambulance system that is meeting the needs of the Victorian community,” she said.

“We need our paramedics to be supported, we need the Victorian community to be supported when they need emergency care.

“It’s in Surrey Hills, it’s not at the back of Burke for goodness sake.”

- with AAP