40,000 lost hours for ambulances across Queensland
The Queensland Health Crisis has taken a drastic turn after the latest statistics obtained by the State Opposition revealed a record-breaking start to 2023 for ambulance lost time.
Between January and March paramedics and their patients were ramped at Queensland Hospitals for 40,236 hours – the worst result to start a new year.
Shockingly the number of lost hours increased every month in the first quarter of the year, as the Palaszczuk Government continues to deny the system is in crisis.
Brisbane’s Metro South Health and Hospital Service (HHS) and Metro North HHS were the top two hospitals that recorded the highest numbers, while West Moreton HHS, Gold Coast HHS, Sunshine Coast HHS, Central Queensland HHS and Wide Bay HHS were among the other regions to suffer major losses.
The ramping crisis coincides with new emergency department wait time figures, also obtained by the Opposition through Parliament, which shockingly have also soared through the start of the year.
The Queensland Health figures revealed:
• A patient at Brisbane’s PA Hospital waited more than 13.5 hours in March.
• A patient at Bundaberg Hospital waited more than 11 hours in January.
• A patient at Logan Hospital waited more than 10.5 hours in March.
• A patient at Toowoomba Hospital waited more than 10 hours in April.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said Queenslanders were paying the price for eight years of poor planning by the Palaszczuk Labor Government.
“We have world-class doctors, nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals who have been let down by poor planning and a government that has just stopped listening,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“To have nearly 16 crews a day taken off the road on Brisbane’s southside alone due to the ramping crisis means other Queenslanders’ calls are going unanswered in their hour of need.
“Queensland has the worst ambulance ramping in the nation and the ambulance lost hours is an unwanted record.
“Paramedics didn’t sign up to the vocation to spend an entire shift at the end of an ambulance ramp.
“440 hours a day are lost to ramping in Queensland and it’s only going to get worse because the State Government has failed to plan, deliver and evaluate.
“The Opposition won’t stop fighting to heal the Queensland Health Crisis.
“The LNP has put health solutions on the table to heal the Queensland Health Crisis including more resources, better triaging, releasing data in real-time and putting doctors and nurses back in charge to improve patient care.” Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates said our clogged emergency department waiting rooms were a direct result of the ramping crisis.
“It’s horrifying to hear Queenslanders are being forced to wait more than 13 hours for treatment,” Ms Bates said.
“An overcrowded emergency department waiting room is no place for a patient to spend all day waiting for care.
“As a registered nurse and former hospital administrator, I know how stressful it is for patients and frontline staff who are caught in the middle of the Queensland Health Crisis.
“With the chaos and crisis engulfing the Palaszczuk Labor Government, Health Minister Shannon Fentiman has failed to outline her plans to reduce emergency department wait times.
“Photo-op Fentiman needs to stop swanning around Queensland with her photographer and get serious about fixing the Queensland Health Crisis.
“Not once has Shannon Fentiman revealed her plans to Queenslanders to fix this mess.
“All Queenslanders deserve a world-class health system no matter where they live.”
Source: Ambulance lost hours 2023
Source: Longest wait times in Emergency Department Waiting Rooms
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