Latest figures reveal hours wasted waiting for treatment at Sunshine Coast hospitals
Emergency department patients are waiting hours before seeing a doctor and paramedic shift times are blowing out, new ambulance ramping data reveals.
Sunshine Coast
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Sunshine Coast patients are spending more than four hours on stretchers in ambulances waiting for hospital care, new data shows.
Figures released in response to a question on notice to Health Minister Shannon Fentiman on October 11 revealed the five longest wait times, as well as median wait times, for patients at public hospitals across Queensland between May to September.
The data states the longest wait time at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital was 249 minutes – or four hours and nine minutes – in July, and 190 minutes – or three hours and ten minutes – for Nambour in June.
The data does not disclose what the patients were at the hospital for.
Ms Fentiman said in her reply to the question on notice the Queensland Ambulance Service was the busiest service in Australia, responding to 1.2 million calls per year.
“The hard work of our paramedics, as well as that of our amazing Emergency Department staff, means that the statewide median ED waiting time is 15 minutes,” she said.
The minister said more than 1300 additional frontline ambulance staff have been employed since 2015, meaning more than 90 per cent of triple-0 calls were answered within 10 seconds and 90 per cent of the most critical incidents were attended in around 17 minutes.
Sunshine Coast Health and Hospital Service emergency department data – which includes Birtinya, Nambour and Gympie hospitals – from July to September states 317 category one patients – who should be seen by a treating doctor within two minutes of arriving – attended the health service’s emergency departments and were all seen within the appropriate time frame.
It states 77 per cent of 9246 category two patients – were seen within 10 minutes; 75 per cent of 21,607 category three patients were seen by a doctor within 30 minutes; 79 per cent of 18,162 category four patients were seen within one hour of arriving and 88 per cent of 4234 category five patients were seen by a doctor within two hours of arriving.
Deputy Opposition Leader and Kawana MP Jarrod Bleijie said nearly one third of all patients at SCUH experience ambulance ramping.
“Despite the heroic efforts of our doctors, nurses and paramedics to hold the system together, Queensland Health is simply falling apart at the seams,” he said.
“Residents on the Sunshine Coast deserve to know an ambulance will show up in their hour of need and they won’t be stuck waiting on the end of a hospital ramp.”
Member for Maroochydore Fiona Simpson said ambulance ramping figures on the Sunshine Coast are “not acceptable”.
“Despite the hard work of our frontline staff there are community members who fear when they are at their most vulnerable they could wait too long,” she said.
“Our hard working Ambos and health workers need the right support so they can do their jobs and patients get the care they need.”
United Workers Union national ambulance co-ordinator Fiona Scalon said paramedics within the union were frustrated with not being able to get their patients through to the help they need within a reasonable time frame.
“While our members are ramped at hospitals, they can see the other jobs in the community and hear the calls from the Operations Centre looking for the next available crew to be able to send,” she said.
“The case cycle time can blow out to several hours when you factor the time at hospital ramped waiting to hand over the care of the patient.”
Ms Scalon said if a crew is sent to a patient towards the end of their shift, what could be a 45 to 60 minute job stretches to several hours and they do not finish work on time.
She said extra triage and patient care nurses have reduced time spent at hospitals and Hospital Located Teams – a paramedic and supervisor who can take care of a patient – allow crews ramped at hospitals to get out during peak demand periods, or to make their way back to station to finish on time.
But to relieve the issue, Ms Scalon said a focus on longer term patients who would otherwise be in aged and disability care was needed and would free up several hundred beds in the “acute hospital setting”.
A Sunshine Coast Health and Hospital Service spokesman said all category one patients with life-threatening conditions are seen immediately.
“Patients arrive at our emergency departments in different ways, and all patients are triaged depending on how serious their condition is,” they said.
“Sometimes patients coming into our hospitals via ambulances may not all be clinically assessed as category one patients.”
They said they were supporting flowing through their emergency departments through various means including virtual care, rapid access services, and a Command Centre at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
“We would like to acknowledge our health service teams for their dedication each and every day in our increasingly busy Sunshine Coast Health hospitals.”
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