Call for more beds to end ramping at Logan Hospital

This photo was taken yesterday of ambulances outside one of southeast Queensland’s busiest hospitals which is finding it difficult to put to bed claims of ambulance ramping.

LOGAN Hospital patients would continue to be kept in ambulances or “dumped” in corridors while awaiting admission unless more beds were provided, according to the state Opposition.

Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates said state government statistics from an October performance report for the hospital showed 44 per cent of patients to the hospital were not off stretchers within the designated 30-minute time period.

“What the Logan Hospital needs is more beds and more beds now,” Ms Bates said.

“We’ve had promise after promise from Health Minister Steven Miles, but the problems are only getting worse. As a nurse, I know that ambulance ramping is a consequence of under-resourced emergency departments.

“Our hard-working nurses, doctors and paramedics need more help on the frontline to improve patient care.

“Labor’s promised hospital upgrades need to be fast-tracked.”

Ms Bates was speaking out about Logan Hospital after the Nurses Professional Association Queensland complained to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission about unsafe practices in the Metro South Hospital and Health Service, which covers Logan.

Supplied image of Ambulance ramping and patients in the corridors of the PA Hospital.

NPAQ spokesman Jack McGuire said ramping restrictions instigated during the Commonwealth Games in April led to an abuse of a “rapid transfer process”, which resulted in patients being stranded in hallways.

“It’s become evident through feedback from our nurses that the new ramping restrictions have simply led to an abuse of the rapid transfer process, which leaves patients stranded in hallways,” Mr McGuire said.

“First the minister was caught out with his dodgy survey, now he’s trying to dodgy (up) the ramping figures by dumping patients unattended.”

But Health Minister Steven Miles slammed the claims and said the 30-minute time limit included parking the ambulance to signing the patient in and waiting for paramedics to hand over paper work to hospital staff.

He said a $700,000 June funding windfall for a rapid transfer nurse at the hospital had sped up admissions.

“These initiatives are working. It has improved ambulance response times in the Logan region and is in addition to the hardworking nurses already working in the ED,” he said.

Supplied image of ambulance ramping and patients in the corridors of the PA Hospital.

Mr Miles said another factor slowing down admissions was presentations rising significantly at Logan Hospital where the Emergency Department dealt with a whopping 7934 patients in November an increase of 6 per cent on the previous year.

“Importantly, 100 per cent of the most critically ill patients arriving at Logan Hospital ED are seen immediately,” Mr Miles said.

“The 56 per cent of patients arriving at Logan Hospital by ambulance are transferred off-stretcher within 30 minutes.

“That includes the ambulance parking at the hospital, the patient being safely unloaded and then moved into the triage area, 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.

“Many people in Logan, and around the state, can no longer afford to see a GP and end up in the Emergency Department.

“That’s on top the $52.7 million cut from the Morrison Government to Metro South.”

Mr Miles said the state’s $280 million Logan Hospital Expansion plan, under way, would

provide up to 190 new beds and extend the maternity ward.