Worst cases of ambulance ramping at Queensland hospitals revealed

New data has revealed the worst cases of ambulance ramping at Queensland hospitals, with some patients seven hours to be transferred to emergency departments. SEE THE LIST

Ambulance ramping hit unprecedented highs in Queensland this year, with new data showing patients waited more than seven hours to be transferred to emergency departments at major hospitals.

While quarterly health data only provides average total ramping times, government documents have revealed the worst individual cases of ramping at each Queensland hospital over the March quarter.

The Mater Hospital in Brisbane saw some of the worst ramping across the quarter, with waiting times blowing out to more than seven hours in January, February and March, and average ambulance waiting times also stretching out to 44 minutes in February before patients saw the inside of an ED.
Ipswich Hospital and the Princess Alexandra also saw patients ramped for more than seven hours, while Redland and Queen Elizabeth II had a patients wait six hours or more.

Gold Coast University Hospital’s worst ramp time was 5.8 hours, Caboolture 3.9 hours, Toowoomba 4.9 hours and Robina 3.8 hours.

But average waiting times painted a more worrisome picture, with Logan Hospital seeing ambulances parked up for an average of 44 minutes in both January and February and 41 minutes in March – well outside the recommended 30 minute time frame.

Ipswich Hospital saw similar ramping times, with a 44-minute average wait in January, 46 minutes in February and 41 minutes in March.

Queen Elizabeth II recorded the highest average ramping time in February at 47 minutes before a patient was transferred off a stretcher to the ED.

Hospitals with the lowest average ramping times were Townsville, Mount Isa and Maryborough, which all recorded below 20 minute waits.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman earlier this year switch the reporting style for ramping from total hours to average minutes.

The move was widely criticised as an attempt to mask pressures faced by the state’s emergency departments, but Queensland Health director-general Michael Walsh claimed average waiting times more accurately reflected total time spent ramped outside of hospitals.

“The March quarter was the busiest ever recorded, with 370 more patients at our EDs every day compared to the same time last year,” Ms Fentiman said.

“Not only are we seeing more patients, but we are also seeing sicker patients, with a huge 10.9 per cent increase in category 1 and 2 presentations compared to the same quarter last year.

“A perfect storm of floods, heatwaves, and a surge of flu, COVID, and RSV cases meant that patient off-stretcher time (POST) took a hit in January and February. Despite this, we saw POST improve by over two per cent from February to March.”

Ms Fentiman said there were promising signs and she was committed to addressing issues around ambulance pressures.

“We know our hospital emergency departments are busier than ever before, with a growing and ageing population, declining private health coverage, more complex conditions, and a lack of access to general practitioners among contributing factors,” she said.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman. Picture: Annette Dew

“The Miles Government will continue to listen to, and work with, health workers and patients to get the best outcomes for Queenslanders.”

The March quarter health data released by the government revealed a grim picture of Queensland’s growing health needs, with emergency department presentations reaching a staggering 603,863 over the three months – a 5.7 per cent increase, or 33,000 extra people, compared to the same period last year.

Ambulance ramping also hit unprecedented highs, with 45 per cent of patients waiting more than half an hour to be admitted to emergency departments – figures not seen since during the height of Covid.

Opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates said the state’s health system had “chronically worsened” during Labor’s decade in power and reiterated the Opposition’s plan to released “real-time” hospital data if elected in October.

“Ambulance ramping isn’t simply a number, it’s a Queenslander desperate for a hospital bed or another Queenslander on the end of a phone line waiting for help,” she said.

“Queenslanders want more than empty promises to heal the health crisis, they want empty ambulance ramps and available hospital beds.”

Originally published as Worst cases of ambulance ramping at Queensland hospitals revealed