Bennett demands action as data shows 6424 hours lost to ramping

As politicians trade barbs over a ‘continuing crisis’ of delays and ambulance ramping at Bundaberg Hospital, one aged care home resident was forced to wait in severe pain for 16 hours before receiving treatment.

A Bundaberg aged care home resident waited more than 16 hours before receiving treatment for severe back pain.

A 71-year-old woman with severe back pain waited more than 16 hours before receiving medical treatment at Bundaberg Hospital, as new data shows ambulance ramping continued to divert services from attending to emergencies in the community.

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Speaking at a media conference arranged by LNP Member for Burnett Stephen Bennett on Tuesday morning, Palm Lake Resort resident Eddie Anstiss said he called 000 about 2.20pm on Wednesday, April 3 when his wife, Marilyn, began experiencing “terrible” back and abdominal pain.

Marilyn Anstiss (left, with husband Eddie) waited eight hours in severe pain for an ambulance to transport her to Bundaberg Hospital from her home at Palm Lake Resort.

The pain was so severe Marilyn was unable to get into their car so Eddie could take her to the emergency department himself, he said.

“I wanted to take her to the hospital myself, but she said ‘I just can’t get into the car, I just can’t do it’,” Eddie said.

After receiving two callbacks from emergency services to inform him that there would be delays in dispatching an ambulance to his property, Eddie called at 8pm for an update, to again be told there were no ambulances available.

He said Marilyn was in significant pain and discomfort while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

“It’s terrible when you see your wife laid on the bed in tears; you start to get anxious,” Eddie said.

The ambulance eventually arrived at 10.20pm, with two paramedics quickly making Marilyn comfortable and providing reassurance to her and Eddie and transporting her to the hospital within 30 minutes.

But upon arrival at the hospital, a lack of available beds meant Marilyn had to wait on the bed in the ambulance ramped outside the hospital.

LNP Member for Burnett Stephen Bennett said delays in receiving care due to ambulance ramping was a "continuing crisis" that needed to be addressed by the state government and Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service.

Apart from some morphine injections administered in the ambulance ramping area, Eddie said it was not until about 9am the next day that Marilyn was seen by a doctor and X-rays arranged to start diagnosing her condition.

She was discharged later that morning after receiving treatment for a pinched nerve in her back caused by a fall a week prior, but Eddie said she was now “very apprehensive” about exacerbating her condition due to the delays she experienced.

Eddie said the experience was particularly concerning given Bundaberg’s ageing population and corresponding growth in aged care homes such as Palm Lakes resort, which he said had doubled in size in the seven years he and Marilyn had been staying there.

“We’re bringing you; we’re encouraging the vulnerable into … into this lovely town, but we haven’t got the facilities to deal with it,” he said.

Data obtained by shadow health minister Ros Bates showed that 6424 hours were lost to ambulance ramping in Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service in 2023.

Mr Bennett said Marilyn and Eddie’s experience showed the “real consequences for this continuing crisis in ambulance ramping”.

He rejected claims by WBHHS that patients were being seen within clinically recommended time frames after presenting to the ED, saying the prevalence of ambulance ramping was “distorting the figures”.

“We’ve seen time and time again … that particularly patients are slipping further and further from where we would expect a health service delivery to be,” he said.

“We’re just trying to say it’s time that you stop, listen, reflect on what the people of Bundaberg are telling you.

“Stop the spin, and let’s all work together to make sure that ambulance ramping becomes a thing of the past.”

WBHHS acting chief executive Ben Ross-Edwards said population growth and an ageing population significantly increased demand for public healthcare services in the region.

In March, WBHHS implemented new roles in Bundaberg ED, including patient flow and medical commanders to direct and co-ordinate the flow of patients presenting.

ALP Member for Bundaberg Tom Smith said Mr Bennett’s calls to reduce ambulance ramping constituted an attack on the state’s frontline health workers.

“We have seen measurable success in the Hervey Bay Emergency Department with this new operational model and we are optimistic to see that replicated in Bundaberg,” Mr Ross-Edwards said.

ALP Member for Bundaberg Tom Smith said Mr Bennett’s calls to reduce ambulance ramping constituted an attack on the state’s frontline health workers, reviving the government’s criticism of the Burnett MP for a September 2023 Facebook comment in which he said health workers’ entitlements should be reduced.

“We know that our health workers do an amazing job and are facing difficult circumstances in our health system right across the country,” he said.

Mr Smith offered to meet with Marilyn and Eddie to discuss their experience, and deferred to QAS for an explanation as to why they were forced to wait eight hours for an ambulance.

“I’m not going to speculate on why that (delay) occurred, but I’m very happy to talk with the gentlemen and the lady and ensure that they get a response from QAS that is satisfactory to them,” he said.

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While declining to comment on Marilyn’s specific case due to patient confidentiality, a QAS spokesperson said the service was working closely with WBHHS to reduce delays and increase paramedic availability.