The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she attended the Ballarat Base Hospital emergency department on Tuesday with her aunty, who had a collapsed lung.

She said her aunty, aged in her 80s, was placed in a respiratory area with COVID-19 patients and family members were not allowed in this area.

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The woman was directed to a waiting area which she described as "the picture of a hospital that is stretched beyond capacity and which has already been in code brown and code yellow this year".

She said hours later, she phoned the hospital to get an update on her aunty and she was on hold for more than 30 minutes each time before hanging up.

When she eventually received a voicemail message saying nurses answered the phone after 5.30pm, she was dumbfounded.

"The hospital is in crisis. Staff are under extraordinary pressure," the woman said.

"Grampians Health must employ an after-hours receptionist to relieve the already enormous pressure of answering phones on nursing and medical staff."

The woman wanted to be clear she did not expect a nurse to be able to answer the phone given what she observed in the emergency department.

"I do however, expect Grampians Health to understand it is reasonable for family to call for updates and that query should be answered in a timely manner," she said.

"This is a very urgent issue. Grampians Health must employ a receptionist. It is an absolute false economy expecting medical staff to answer patient enquiry calls."

The woman said her aunty felt angry, scared and upset when she was placed in the respiratory area with COVID-19 patients on her own for hours. She said she wanted to advocate for her.

Grampians Health - Ballarat refused to respond to The Courier on the matter.