Reports of workers hiding in their cars so they were not called back from breaks early has been widespread across Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority sites.

Communications Workers' Union secretary Sue Riley said sheer exhaustion from under-staffing, causing a heavy reliance on overtime and issues accessing leave entitlements, had really taken a toll during the pandemic for workers dealing with urgent trauma.

This comes with reports of wait times up to 13 minutes for calls to be answered - unable to be triaged before they are answered - at the peak of Monday's spike with 3,250 calls for help. This was the second-highest number of calls on a single day since the 2016 thunderstorm asthma event

.

"Because [ESTA] is understaffed, morale is at its absolute lowest, the lowest it's ever been," Ms Riley told The Courier. "...Workers see the wait times rising on wall boards and there is that worry that every call could be the difference between life and fatality.

"It's not just ambulance and the health sector [via triple-zero]. Crime continues and police are impacted as well."

Ms Riley said stalled staffing reviews with ESTA were frustrating, knowing that the organisation was generally under-staffed before the pandemic.

In a statement to media, ESTA chief executive officer Marty Smyth said ambulance call demand had increased substantially during the pandemic. Mr Smyth said call levels previously typical of a busy weekend were now "almost a daily occurrence".

He said ESTA was recruiting 43 full-time staff in call-taking, dispatch and mental health support roles under a state government funding boost to help meet demand.

"The new roles will help meet the growth in ambulance demand, improve police dispatch and radio support needs, and enable process changes to improve patient outcomes," Mr Smyth said.

"While we are recruiting, we are also offering overtime shifts to all workers and recalling operational employees seconded into projects across the organisation to help meet demand."

ESTA answered 2.8 million calls in the past financial year or one call each 11 seconds.

Mr Smyth told metropolitan media Monday's call surge could not have been forewarned.

IN OTHER NEWS

Authorities are also investigating the death of a three-year-old Bendigo girl, whose family's triple-zero call was on hold for one minute, 41 seconds, which was clear outside ESTA's target time of five seconds.

"ESTA sends our deepest condolences to the family involved. Our triple-zero operators care deeply about the service they provide and the community they serve," Mr Smyth said.

ESTA's call-taking and dispatch services are delivered from Ballarat, East Burwood and Williams Landing.

If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Courier, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ballarat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.