Qld patients left waiting eight hours on ambulance stretchers

Shocking government documents reveal patients have endured an entire work day trapped on stretchers outside Queensland hospitals, as the state’s ramping crisis spirals beyond control.

Ambulance ramping at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital

Queensland’s worst-affected patients are waiting more than eight hours on ambulance stretchers to get into the state’s hospitals, new figures have ­revealed.

While monthly health data only provides average total ramping times, government documents have revealed the worst individual cases of ramping at each Queensland hospital between June and August.

The data revealed the longest time paramedics waited to transfer patients into a public hospital was 480 minutes – or eight hours – at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital.

This was followed by 472 minutes at Ipswich Hospital and 433 minutes at Logan ­Hospital.

It comes after ramping in Queensland reached its worst level on record in September, with nearly half of patients forced to wait more than 30 minutes before being admitted to emergency departments.

Of the states’ 26 hospitals, at least 16 different hospitals ­recorded a longest wait time of more than four hours during at least one month between June and August.

Five of South East Queensland’s major hospitals saw ­delays of more than six hours – including PA Hospital, Ipswich Hospital, Logan Hospital, Mater Hospital Brisbane and Queen Elizabeth II Hospital.

The PA Hospital recorded eight-hour delays twice in both July and August and Ipswich Hospital recorded two of the top four longest delays, peaking at 472 minutes in June and 457 minutes in July.

Similar data for the first quarter of 2024 shows 16 out of the 26 hospitals saw the worst ramping times increase to the third quarter of 2025.

Bundaberg, Cairns, Gladstone, Gold Coast University, Gympie, Hervey Bay, Ipswich, Maryborough, Nambour, the PA, QEII, Robina, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and Townsville Hospital's all saw worsening individual cases.

Gold Coast University Hospital, for example, saw a January 2024 peak of 349 minutes, a February peak of 238 minutes and 255 minutes in March.

Whereas, in June 2025, the peak was 387 minutes, followed by 291 minutes in July and 271 minutes in August.

Opposition health spokesman Mark Bailey said Health Minister Tim Nicholls was not taking accountability.

“He has indefinitely delayed bringing more beds online, cut funding to emergency departments if they don’t meet his KPIs and the result is patients spending a whole work day on the ramp,” he said.

“The Minister’s failures and complete lack of accountability for our public health system means there’s bed blocks everywhere.”

While there was little change between the 2024 and 2025 data, it is still below the historic high of 2023 where the worst-impacted patients were waiting more than 10 hours on a stretcher at some hospitals.

Mr Nicholls said the government would continue to “pull every lever possible” to reduce ambulance ramping to 30 per cent by 2028.

The government has insisted it has completed a road map to measure yearly progress on this pledge.

Originally published as Qld patients left waiting eight hours on ambulance stretchers