QLD ambo’s shock claim on ramping times

A Queensland paramedic has made a stunning claim about waiting times in emergency department corridors, as the southeast’s major hospitals grapple with ramping.

A QUEENSLAND paramedic claims he’s been forced to wait up to six hours in emergency department corridors with patients, as the southeast’s major hospitals grapple with ramping.

United Voice Queensland ambulance spokesman and Metro South paramedic Torrin Nelson said it was getting harder for staff to deliver quality patient care.

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New Queensland Health data shows ambulance ramping increase

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The union yesterday called for the State Government to fund an extra 250 paramedics across Queensland so more people could be seen to in the community.

It comes after The Courier-Mail revealed ramping had increased by up to 12 per cent at some hospitals between December 2017 and December 2018.

Mr Nelson said wait time could be anywhere from 30 minutes to six hours.

“It’s getting harder and harder as paramedics to deliver really good patient care to the people of Queensland because we’re spending so much time on ramps, in hospitals waiting to offload our patients,” he said.

“It’s really hard to predict how long you’re going to be waiting for.”

Torrin Nelson, advanced care paramedic and United Voice delegate, holds a press conference outside Princess Alexandra Hospital yesterday. Picture: Richard Walker/AAP

Mr Nelson said paramedics tried to avoid keeping patients in the back of ambulances at all costs as it was a safety issue.

“So what we’ll do is queue up in the hallway in the emergency departments of hospitals which in itself poses another risk because those are also fire exits and we’re obstructing those exits,” he said.

“When we get a patient and we’re planning to take them to hospital, we check with our communications centre to see which hospital has the least amount of ramping because we generally expect that every hospital has it.”

Health Minister Steven Miles said the Government had hired 539 ambulance officers since 2015, including 100 new officers who were deployed in September last year.

“Our hardworking paramedics are getting to more people than ever before,” he said.

“In the last 6 months (July 1, 2018 to December 31), QAS responded to over 5850 more Code 1 incidents compared to the same period in 2017.

“The median time for ambulances to arrive at the scene was just 8.8 minutes.

“I’m calling on (Opposition Leader) Deb Frecklington and the LNP to lobby their mates in Canberra to stop cutting money from Queensland Hospitals.”

Ms Frecklington said when the LNP left government in 2015, the state’s average for ramping was 14 per cent.

The average is now 24 per cent.

Originally published as QLD ambo’s shock claim on ramping times