Taxpayers spend big on ambulance ramping, Labor says

Tasmanian taxpayers are forking out millions on ambulance ramping, according to Labor. HOW MUCH IS BEING SPENT.>>

TASMANIA spends around $3m a year to pay paramedics to sit in ambulances queued outside overcrowded hospital emergency departments, Labor says.

The figure emerged from questions asked during Budget Estimates hearings, which also revealed 14,400 patients spent more than 20,300 hours ramped outside hospitals in the nine months to March this year.

Deputy Premier Michael Ferguson has defended the government’s record in improving health funding, saying record amounts were being spend to provide reliable services.

Ambulances at the Royal Hobart Hospital. Picture: Chris Kidd

In parliament on Thursday, Labor leader Rebecca White grilled the government about why overtime costs across the health system were so high.

“In opposition, your party called overtime, which was then just a fraction of what it is now, ‘a vicious and expensive cycle’, which led to staff burnout, more staffing gaps and more overtime,” she said.

“Is it any wonder our health system is in crisis, our nurses and health workers burnt out, and our Budget drowning in debt, when $33 million in overtime is the sort of incompetent management we get on your watch?”

Labor leader Rebecca White speaks to the media on Parliament Lawns in Hobart on Thursday, June 16, 2022.

Mr Ferguson defended the government’s record in health — where record amounts are being spent.

“The government has been very deliberate to invest in health throughout our eight years in office,” he said.

Deputy Premier Michael Ferguson. Last sitting day of parliament before the Winter break. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“We do that, because we understand the fundamental importance of reliable emergency services, reliable emergency departments and access to beds in our hospitals; including the infrastructure essential for those beds to be opened after those ruinous years of Labor when they closed hospital wards and shut down beds and sacked nurses.

“After the 2011 budget, the Labor government sacked a nurse a day for nine months.

“You want to talk about burnout, you burn nurses, you burn beds and you put the padlock on the door of wards like ward 4D at the Launceston General Hospital. That is the history.”

Health Consumers Tasmania on Thursday welcomed the government’s plan to create Health Senate to help drive policy in Tasmania, and called for it to be fast-tracked.

“What we need is action,” CEO Bryce Levett said.

“While obviously the Senate will need medical practitioners and other experts it is absolutely vital that healthcare consumers and the broader community also has a strong voice in the Senate.

“With the right people sitting around the table, we believe the Senate could deliver a fresh perspective and some real solutions.”

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