Ambulance ramping: Man spends 10 hours waiting in hospital hallway

A Queensland man who he feared for his life while waiting ten hours on a gurney for an ambulance has called for the state government to take action.

A Queensland man has told how he feared for his life while waiting ten hours on a gurney for an ambulance, as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk faced questions over a decision to keep monthly ramping data secret.

Alan Hodges, 78, flanked by wife Veronica on Wednesday, shared his story after Health Minister Shannon Fentiman was accused of refusing to release previously available monthly hospital ambulance statistics.

Mr Hodges said after falling seriously ill he was told by his doctor to have his wife drive him straight to the emergency department at Redland Hospital.

But distressingly, after being told they were not equipped to treat his condition, Mr Hodges was told he would be transferred to the PA Hospital by ambulance and put onto a gurney – where he waited for the next ten hours, spending the night in a hallway.

“I was just laying there waiting, waiting for someone to come along and help me,” he said.

“I was concerned that if I started to deteriorate further there would be nothing they could do other than try and stabilise me.

Alan Hodges, with wife Veronica, spent 10 hours in a hospital hallway waiting for an ambulance. Picture: David Clark

Mr Hodges – who ultimately spent five days in hospital – said he hoped his story would prompt the government to take action on the issue.

“It was very frightening,” he said.

“The only way it’s going to improve is for the public to push the government to relieve the situation.”

Earlier this week Ms Fentiman was called out over not releasing monthly hospital ramping data through a parliamentary question on notice when requested, despite previous Health Minister Yvette D’Ath having done so on at least three previous occasions.

Pressed on the matter, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said “the Health Minister has committed to making data more available.”

“She’s currently working on that with the department and I’m quite sure that she will be updating you about that in the very near future,” she said.

But the Premier did not explain why “working with the department” was necessary – given the data had previously been released without issue as recently as February.

Mr Crisafulli called on the government to reverse the decision to stop handing over monthly tracking data, saying “that decision needs to be made today”.

“This is a practice that has existed for a long time, and for the state government and the new Minister to refuse to give it shows everything you need to know about the culture of cover ups, rather than a culture of repairing a broken health system,” he said.

Mr Crisafulli also committed to releasing “real-time data” within 100 days should he be elected Premier next October.

Ms Fentiman said she was committed to “releasing more Queensland Health data to make it easier and more accessible for Queenslanders”.

“The department are looking into how this can best be managed to ensure that we are providing Queenslanders with transparent and efficient insight into the realities confronting our hardworking health workers.

“This work is currently underway, and I will provide an update soon.”