Media Release: A record year of ramping

It’s official – 2025 has been a record year for ambulance ramping in South Australia.

The latest figures show that patients spent 3,422 hours waiting in ambulances for emergency care during November.

That brings the total number of hours lost on the ramp during 2025 to 48,466 hours - already a historic high with a month still to go. For comparison, patients spent 47,380 hours waiting on the ramp in 2024 and 40,474 hours in 2023.

The President of the Australian Medical Association in South Australia (AMA SA) Associate Professor Peter Subramaniam says this is a clear sign that all sides of politics must invest in innovative reforms.  

‘Today cannot be a day to celebrate,’ A/Prof Subramaniam says. ‘We acknowledge the recent improvement to ramping figures since the record monthly high in July, but the significant problems causing ramping have not been addressed.

‘We must not lose sight of the patients. Each hour wasted on the ramp this year represents someone’s mother, someone’s grandfather, someone’s child who received delayed access to emergency care at a time when they were in pain, discomfort or distress.

‘Ahead of the election we’re calling on all sides of politics to listen to the doctors on the frontline of care and commit to the recommendations AMA SA has begun announcing ahead of the election.’

AMA SA has welcomed the announcement that 30 additional hospital beds will open in the northern and western suburbs this month.

But the organisation is calling for other reforms that are designed to improve care in the community, to reduce avoidable hospital presentations. They include:

•    Funding out-of-hours GP care so practices can stay open longer and offer more appointments 
•    Providing financial incentives for GPs to care for patients in residential aged care
•    Supporting rural health by incentivising specialists to operate regionally and deliver care where patients live
•    Strengthening community mental healthcare services, including increasing funding for mobile teams and a 24/7 clinical crisis line
•    Axing the payroll tax on doctors to reduce patient costs and remove barriers to GP and specialist care
•    Making South Australia a destination of choice for the world’s best doctors by slashing red tape that acts as a barrier 
•    Ensuring residential aged care staff and ambulance staff follow patients’ wishes and are not transferred unnecessarily to hospital.
‘State leaders can’t keep side-stepping their responsibility when it comes to general practice and aged care,’ A/Prof Subramaniam says.

‘They can’t keep saying “that’s not our job”. Our recommendations demonstrate that reforms can and must be implemented at a state level to complement federal government action.

‘Right now, South Australian patients are falling through gaps between state and federal governments – and South Australian leaders can’t stand by and watch that happen.’

A/Prof Subramaniam says AMA SA will announce more election priorities in the lead-up to polling day on 21 March.

For interview requests please contact media manager Ben Terry on 0478 847 604.