Ambulance Ramping

In reply to the Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) ().6 February 2024).

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector): The Minister for Health and Wellbeing has advised:

Instead of addressing the issue, the former Liberal government made hundreds of nurses redundant, including during the pandemic–and launched a war on our ambos. Corporate liquidators were appointed to make hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts to hospitals.

Our government acutely understands the concern for patients who do get ramped, as well as for those in the community needing that ambulance to respond to 000 callouts.

The causes of the delay of ambulances to offload patients into emergency departments are across the entire health system. The solutions therefore require the many actions that we are undertaking right across the system.

Patients get ramped in ambulances because the emergency departments are at capacity. The emergency departments are often at capacity because there are many patients stuck in ED waiting for a ward bed. Patients who no longer need to be in ward beds get stuck because of hospital flow issues and also because of the availability of discharge options especially to residential aged care.

Many patients get stuck in EDs because there are not enough beds in the hospital wards. Patients then get stuck in the wards because there are resourcing issues inside hospitals or a lack of discharge options to care outside hospitals. The impacts are largest with elderly patients, mental health patients and National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants who no longer require acute care but require additional support outside of hospital.

In three years we have added an additional $7.1 billion to the health budget.

This additional funding is enabling us to add more than 1,400 more doctors, nurses, ambos and allied health staff and open more beds.

While we promised to deliver 300 beds in 2022, we have now increased that to 600 extra beds across the health system being put in place.

We have comprehensive plans to address every aspect of the blockages that lead to patients waiting longer on the ramp and in the community for an ambulance and are investing in new health initiatives to meet demand pressures, ease pressure on hospitals and address ramping.