NEW Queensland Health data has today revealed ambulance ramping has reached a new high of 45%.
The shocking result is a 2% increase in the second quarter of 2023, and three times the rate of ambulance ramping when the Palaszczuk Government was first elected.
It is also 15% higher than when Anna Bligh declared Queensland Health a “basket case”.
Shockingly, the data has been released on the same day the Minister was caught in Budget Estimates removing hospital bed numbers from the Queensland Health Performance website, in a deliberate effort to hide the true state of the Queensland Health Crisis from Queenslanders.
Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates said Queenslanders were paying a high price for years of under-investment and mismanagement of Queensland Health by the Palaszczuk Labor Government.
“Across the State, Queenslanders have a one-in-two chance of being stuck waiting in the back of an ambulance to get into an Emergency Department,” Ms Bates said.
“When the Palaszczuk Government was first elected ambulance ramping was just 15%, now it has ballooned to three times that rate at 45%.
“This is the worst ambulance ramping anywhere in Australia, anytime in history and in 2023 it has only become worse.
“We have now reached the point in the Queensland Health Crisis where the Government is hiding the truth, because it is so bleak.
“Queenslanders be shocked to learn today that Health Minister Fentiman has deleted bed numbers from the Queensland Health website.
“Labor would rather keep Queenslanders in the dark about hospital bed numbers than heal the Queensland Health Crisis.
“Queensland Health and our hardworking doctors and nurses have become collateral of the chaos and crisis of this Government.
“We have climbed to 45% ambulance ramping due to the Palaszczuk Labor Government’s failure to properly resource and run our health system.
“Queenslanders deserve to know when ambulance ramping will get back to the 15% it was in 2015.
“Queenslanders want to know when their grandparent has a heart attack, an ambulance will come, when their child has an asthma attack, an ambulance will come.
“Instead, under the Palaszczuk Government, ambulances are stuck on hospital ramps because Emergency Departments have no space.
“Queensland’s hospitals are flat-lining and urgently need life-support but unfortunately Labor is out of answers for the crisis they’ve created.
“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.”