No end in sight to ambulance ramping at Australia’s logjammed hospitals
The AMA’s latest Ambulance Ramping Report Card shows ambulance ramping in many states is still double what it was five years ago, with logjammed hospitals leaving patients waiting too long to be admitted, with devastating results.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said the levels of ramping were alarming, with reports of people tragically dying while waiting for an ambulance or dying in ambulances waiting for admission to hospital.
“Emergency departments have difficulty getting patients admitted into hospital for many reasons, including under-resourcing, and a lack of beds due to exit block,” Dr McMullen said.
“Our amazing hospital and ambulance staff are doing the best they can to get people the care they need, but they desperately need more resourcing, more space, more beds and a system that works.
“In some states, the total hours ramped has more than doubled in the past five years. The human and financial costs of this blowout cannot be ignored.”
Dr McMullen said exit block occurred when patients are ready to be discharged but can’t be discharged because they have nowhere to go.
“This problem particularly affects patients waiting for aged care or disability accommodation or support. It means less beds for inpatient services, which results in increased waiting times for ambulance services, emergency department services, and essential elective surgeries.
“Our hospitals have been struggling since before the COVID-19 pandemic. While the federal government recently locked in some welcome additional funding for public hospitals, whoever wins government must expedite a new National Health Reform Agreement.
“The federal government’s promised investment for public hospitals through the new agreement, originally estimated at $13 billion, is little more than a nice idea if states and territories fail to reach an agreement with the federal government. And the reality is that the cost of healthcare has gone up and most of the new funding will be eaten up before it is able to fund extra services.
“The need for a new fit-for-purpose agreement has never been greater — for doctors and their patients.”
Dr McMullen said there was also a need for greater transparency in data, with each state and territory reporting data differently making it impossible to accurately compare jurisdictions.
“Despite these differences, performance has clearly fallen across the board over the past five years. We are advocating for nationally consistent reporting of ambulance ramping to be included in the National Minimum Data Set that all jurisdictions must provide to the federal government.”
Find out more about the AMA’s Clear the Hospital Logjam campaign and read the report
