Ambulance off-stretcher waiting times at Toowoomba Hospital are ramping up as calls continue for hospital redevelopment

In the June 2021 quarter, 33 per cent of ambulances had to wait more than 30 minutes before patients could be transferred off-stretcher, a new report has found.

New data has revealed 33 per cent of ambulances arriving at Toowoomba Hospital were forced to wait more than 30 minutes to offload their patients in the June 2021 quarter. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Calls for a new hospital in Toowoomba have ramped up following revelations that about one third of ambulances arriving at Toowoomba Hospital were stuck waiting for more than 30 minutes to offload their patient.

A report by the state’s Auditor-General has revealed that cases of ramping, where ambulances were stuck waiting for an available bed for patients, increased from 13.1 per cent to 33 per cent since June 2020.

As a result, the Auditor-General’s report found over the past year an additional 20 per cent of ambulances attending Toowoomba Hospital were forced to wait for more than 30 minutes before their patient was transferred off-stretcher.

Data from the Queensland Health Emergency Department Information System confirmed that of the 15,503 patients to present to Toowoomba Hospital’s emergency department in the June 2021 quarter, 67 per cent were transferred off-stretcher within half an hour.

The quarterly emergency department information also revealed that 62 per cent of patients were seen within clinically recommended times, with the median wait time for treatment 23 minutes.

Toowoomba Hospital has seen an increase in ramping. Picture: David Clark

A total of half of emergency department patients were admitted to hospital within four hours during the June quarter.

Toowoomba South MP David Janetzki said the figures showed that more needed to be done to support health services in the region.

“In the short-term, the state government needs to invest in more beds, empower staff, streamline triaging and introduce real-time data reporting,” he said.

“For our region’s future, it’s time to start building a new Toowoomba Hospital.

“Our region is attracting more families and new businesses, and we need enhanced services to meet this growth.”

Darling Downs Health Service acting chief executive Annette Scott. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Darling Downs Health acting chief executive Annette Scott said a clinical decision unit has been implemented close to the emergency department with a sole focus on improving patient flow.

“The clinical decision unit has had a significant impact on the efficiency of patient flow through the ED which allows up to safely make decisions on the best plan for care,” she said.

“We have also implemented a Hospital Operations Centre which allows us to monitor and produce in ‘real time’ information about patient flow and capacity at the Toowoomba Hospital as well as providing similar information about the health service’s 22 other facilities.

“In the previous reporting quarter (April, May, June 2021) Toowoomba Hospital saw a total of 15,503 people through its emergency department. Of these patients, 100 per cent of category one patients were seen within clinically recommended time frames.”

Toowoomba North MP Trevor Watts called on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Health Minister Yvette D’Ath to commit to the proposed Toowoomba Hospital Redevelopment Project at Baillie Henderson Hospital.

“The simple facts are that people will have unnecessarily poor health outcomes, including the loss of life, if we don’t build the new hospital,” Mr Watts said.

“The detailed planning and business case for the project is done, we just need the government to commit to the funding, whether that’s a public-private partnership or fully funded by the government. There’s no reason for the government not to commit.

“The biggest part of the problem is that our healthcare staff are getting fatigued constantly trying to battle in a facility that was not designed to cope with the numbers it’s coping with.”

An artist’s impression of the new Toowoomba Hospital at the site of the old Baillie Henderson Hospital site. Photo: Supplied.

In a response to a question on notice from Mr Watts, Ms D’Ath said a detailed business case for the redevelopment of the Toowoomba Hospital at the Baillie Hospital campus was complete.

“I am further advised the first phase of this project, a $42 million day surgery facility, has been funded with detailed planning and preparatory work under way. Further phases will be considered in future state budgets and will be dependent on the detailed statewide health service planning that Queensland Health regularly undertakes to inform its health infrastructure investment prioritisation processes.”