Ambulance ‘ramping’ impacts 1 in 5 patients in Gympie

The State Opposition has criticised the rate of ambulance ramping at the Gympie Hospital

File photo of ambulances parked outside a hospital. Photographer: Liam Kidston.

THE State Opposition has criticised the rate of ambulance ramping at the Gympie Hospital, which was 21 per cent in February, meaning more than one in five patients were affected.

CLICK HERE: Govts squabble over who to blame for high ramping stats at Gympie

Ramping is the percentage of patients arriving by ambulance at Emergency who have to wait more than 30 minutes to be admitted to the hospital.

READ MORE: Health bosses deny Opposition claims about Gympie patient transfers

“At the last state election in November 2017, the rate was 10 per cent, so the long-term trend at Gympie is clearly not good,” an Opposition spokesman said in a statement.

The Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service responded by saying that in February 2020, Emergency Department presentations increased by 8 per cent at Gympie Hospital when compared to February 2019.

Emergency vehicles wait

“Despite this increase, 100 per cent of our sickest patients (Category 1) were treated within two minutes,” said director of medical services Dr Ben Close. “Seventy-nine per cent of patients were off loaded into a Gympie Hospital Emergency Department bed within 30 minutes of the ambulance arriving on the hospital campus,” he said.

“The activities that occur within this 30 minute period include the ambulance parking at the hospital, the patient being safely unloaded and then moved into the triage area, the conduct of triage by a specialised emergency nurse, transfer to an available bed elsewhere within the emergency department, then a full clinical handover between the QAS Paramedic and the treating ED clinical team.

General shots of an Ambulance Bay Area

“It’s important to remember emergency departments are extremely busy places and patients are categorised (1 to 5, with 1 being the most urgent) so that they can be seen based on clinical urgency rather than on a first-in, first-served basis. While it is acknowledged there is still room for improvement, there are several actions underway to address this.

General shots of the Ambulance Bay Area

“This includes: working closely with QAS to better manage the flow of patients throughout the region; reinvigorating the use of telehealth for specialist consults to reduce the need for inter-hospital transfers; and reviewing all processes to better streamline the patient’s journey through the health service. Our emergency departments are appropriately staffed by highly-trained health professionals who pride themselves on providing safe, quality care to our community.”

LNP Leader Deb Frecklington and LNP Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates said Queenslanders deserved a world-class public health system. “Ambulance ramping was at record levels before coronavirus began, in another symptom of a health system in crisis,” they said.

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