Ambulances spent more than a month waiting last month

Date
    July 17, 2012






Ambulances have never spent as much time queuing outside metropolitan hospitals as they have so far this year, the state opposition says.    :-?

Opposition health spokesperson Roger Cook said new figures revealed ambulances were ramped outside WA hospitals for a record 826 hours in June.

He said the June figures continued the bad start to 2012, when the highest-ever figures were also recorded in March, April and May.

"Under the Barnett government the queues in our hospitals just get longer and longer and WA patients are paying the price," Mr Cook said.    :(


The highest daily figure recorded for ambulance ramping in WA was on May 28, which was 127 hours.

"That should have set off alarm bells, yet the June figures are substantially worse than the May total," Mr Cook said.    :(

"This June, ambulances were ramped outside hospitals for more than 500 hours longer than June 2011, more than 300 hours longer than June 2010 and more than 400 hours longer than June 2009.

Mr Cook said WA's Minister for Health, Dr Kim Hames, had to take some of the blame.

"Month after month health minister Kim Hames claims he is putting systems in place to deal with ambulance ramping but almost every month the problem gets worse," he said.    :(

"In June this year Dr Hames ordered a review into the increasing number of patients seeking emergency treatment.

"Why did it take him so long to investigate the problem, when Labor has raised the issue over a number of years?    >:(

"It's time for the minister to take serious action and come up with a solution, not just another empty promise."

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Kim Hames said ambulance ramping was reflective of rising demand across the health system.

"Presentations to metropolitan emergency departments in WA have increased by more than 11 per cent, meaning many more people are attending the state's emergency departments than ever before," he said.

"This is well above the rate expected just from the growth in population and is caused by having too few GPs in WA.

"Indeed we have 15 per cent fewer GPs to population than the national average and people are now using the emergency departments instead of general practice.

"Ultimately ambulance ramping figures will improve as more GPs are recruited."

Dr Hames said a new strategy to combat ambulance ramping would start at Royal Perth Hospital this week.

"This will allow ambulance officers to get back on the road as quickly as possible while a dedicated team remains to care for their patients," he said.

Dr Hames would not provide any further detail on the new plan.    :(

Ramping hours so far in 2012

    January: 392 hours
    February: 313 hours
    March: 539 hours
    April: 457 hours
    May: 711 hours
    June: 826 hours


Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/ambulances-spent-more-than-a-month-waiting-last-month-20120717-227ra.html#ixzz20xnDkYTj

Yet again, another state Liberal government.    :(

Bloody migrants filling our hospitals again. The only way to reduce wating time is to reduce the numbers coming into the country.

Three years ago (during a Victorian Labor Government) I was sent by ambulance from the Doctors clinic to the local hospital.

The ambulance station is right next door and there were two units there.

The hospital is 600 mtrs away, a leasurly 10 minute walk.

From the time that the ambulance was called to the time I was admitted, by admitted I mean wheeled through the door not the 30 minutes it took filling in paperwork, 1 hour 8 minutes had passed. During which time I'd gone from stable to critical.

Was this the Labor Governments fault?