Recruiting 250 more ambulance officers will help reduce ambulance ramping at southeast Queensland hospitals, the ambulance officers’ union says.
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United Voice, which represents paramedics, has called for the Queensland government to fund the positions after the latest Queensland Health data showed ramping was increasing. A patient is considered “ramped” when they have to wait on a stretcher for more than 30 minutes before they are admitted to hospital.
The data for December 2018 showed Robina Hospital recorded 35 per cent of its patients ramped, an increase of 10 per cent on the previous year.
The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital also ramped 35 per cent of its patients in December 2018, an increase of seven per cent. Logan Hospital remained steady at 40 per cent, the worst in the state.
While the issue is primarily a problem with hospital staffing, United Voice Queensland Ambulance delegate Torrin Nelson said there were flow-on benefits to employing more paramedics.
“At least having extra paramedics out there on the street means we’ll have extra people to respond to cases, Mr Nelson said.
“We also have alternate pathways we can use, we can refer to GP clinics for lower acuity cases, we also have our low acuity response units which can respond to those cases on-scene without having to take a patient to a hospital.”
United Voice claims the federal government has axed $1.6 billion from Queensland’s health funding, which has contributed to the ramping issue.
Ambulance ramping has long been an issue for Queensland hospitals, but the state Liberal National Party opposition said the fact that it was increasing was an indictment of the Queensland Labor government.
“Our public hospitals are literally bursting at the seams,” LNP health spokeswoman Ros Bates said.
“As a former ED nurse, I understand the frustration of health staff trying to cope with increased demand.
“Queenslanders deserve a world-class health system that Labor isn’t delivering.”
But Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles said there had been a six per cent increase overall in patients presenting to an emergency department from December 2017 to December 2018.
"Across Queensland 35,800 people (78.0 per cent) arriving via ambulance were off stretcher within 30 minutes," Mr Miles said.
"That’s almost 2200 more patients off-stretcher within 30 minutes, despite almost 5000 more ambulance arrivals than December 2017.
"And importantly, 99 per cent of the most critically ill patients were seen immediately."
Last year, the Queensland government brought online the Patient Access Coordination Hub at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in an effort to reduce ramping.
The hub’s job is to coordinate where ambulances are deployed across the Metro South district.
Mr Nelson said the system had been working but it also got overwhelmed at times.
“On the days we have a moderate workload it seems to be working well, but when there’s a high workload we still can’t keep up,” he said.
While still being the worst performing hospital for ramping in the state, the government considers Logan Hospital's figures a win because it did not see an increase despite admitting 11 per cent more emergency patients compared with 12 months before.
