Grampians Health report reveals shocking Ballarat Hospital ambulance wait times and rising violence against staff

Shocking new figures reveal Ballarat Hospital's extensive emergency department wait times and an increase in violence committed against staff. Have your say on your ED experience.

Nearly half of all patients who arrive at Ballarat Base Hospital’s emergency department by ambulance are waiting more than 40 minutes to be transferred into the hospital, shocking new stats reveal.

Grampians Health’s annual report for the 2024-25 financial year was recently tabled to parliament and outlines the service’s performance over the period.

The latest statistics point to a continuation of a regional health care crisis that in recent years has left patients waiting hours for beds and paramedics caring for the ill in hospital corridors.

In 2024-25, only 55 per cent of patients were brought into Ballarat Base Hospital’s ED from their ambulance within 40 minutes.

For comparison, the figure was 78 per cent in Horsham.

However, Ballarat’s annual target for the metric was only 53 per cent, even though the year prior it was 90 per cent.

In Ballarat, 1788 patients spent more than 24 hours at the emergency department, with the average length of stay there for admitted patients reaching above 12 hours.

Just under a third of mental health-related ED presentations had a stay of fewer than than four hours.

The emergency department at Ballarat Base Hospital.

The latest report did not specify how many serious adverse events occurred that caused serious harm or death to a patient.

However, it did say that only 36 per cent of what are known as “sentinel events” had a “root cause report” submitted within 30 days.

Additionally, nearly a third of staff reported occupational violence that caused them injury or illness, up from about 1 in 10 the previous year.

The report said that increase “reflects the increasing awareness among staff of the ongoing impacts of all instances of violence and aggression towards our people”.

A paramedic returning a stretcher to an ambulance at Ballarat Base Hospital.

A Grampians Health spokeswoman said the hospital was focused on patients with the most urgent needs.

She said a range of programs were now in place that were improving patient flow.

“We’ve redesigned Ballarat Base Hospital’s emergency department to reduce wait times and secured funding to expand the Short Stay Unit, with new cubicles opening in January 2026,” she said.

About violence towards staff, she said: “We have zero tolerance for aggression and are committed to staff safety, with new training and a dedicated occupational violence manager in place.”

Ballarat Hospital’s adult acute inpatient unit is also being upgraded to improve intensive care with regard to mental health.

An ambulance at Ballarat Base Hospital's emergency department intake.

Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said that aside from ramping issues, many paramedics now worked in ‘patient offload’ to assist with transfer times – sometimes for a whole shift, or part of one.

While the job was important, he said, it made paramedics “temporary hospital employees”.

“That’s unacceptable because the paramedic’s role is not to work at the hospital; the paramedic’s role is to be out in the community responding to patients outside the hospital,” he said.

“There are times where a crew will log on for the day and they are effectively deactivated from responding to cases in the community and they’re sent directly to the hospital.

“Sure, it’s probably better than having them all ramped there, but it’s still using our paramedics to perform hospital duties – they’re performing the duties that hospital staff are there to do.”

Mr Hill said new government hospital standards that came into effect a few months back had improved ramping and patient transfer problems at some metropolitan facilities.

But regional areas, he said, “continue to struggle”.

“We probably haven’t seen the regional centres really improve significantly,” Mr Hill said.

“They have unique challenges because they’re in such big areas that cover a wide gap.”

“There’s further work to be done on inter-hospital transfers of patients from places like Ararat, Horsham, and Stawell and trying to find a way for people to get care close to where they live.”

Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill.

He said one major improvement would be more accurate categorisations of triple-0 calls to ensure paramedics are sent where they are most needed.

Grampians Health covers about 250,000 people across a broad area of the state’s west up to the South Australian border, taking in Ballarat, Stawell, Horsham, Dimboola, and Edenhope.

It employs about 7500 staff members.

Grampians Health has been contacted for comment.