Ambulance ramping at our hospitals has broken all records with State Government data revealing 42% of all ambulances in Queensland are ramped.
This is the worst ambulance ramping in the country, 4% higher than last quarter.
Under the LNP, ambulance ramping was at 15%.
Under Anna Bligh’s leadership, it was 30%.
Under Annastacia Palaszczuk’s leadership, ambulance ramping has tripled over the past seven years.
The alarming figures show ramping at the PA Hospital in Brisbane has soared to an extraordinary 67% (up from 42%) – numbers never seen before in Queensland.
The long-awaited figures show shocking blowouts in the number of Queenslanders waiting in emergency departments, waiting to see a specialist and waiting for elective surgery.
At Queensland hospitals:
- 27% of people at our emergency departments now aren’t seen on time (+1%)
- The number of people waiting to see a specialist has soared by 15,446 to 259,884
- The number of people now on the elective surgery waiting list has risen by 1037 to 58,895
Leader of the Opposition David Crisafulli said the numbers would shock every Queenslander.
“What this shows is that we are now approaching the reality where 1 in 2 Queenslanders in an ambulance will be ramped outside a hospital,” he said.
“It means when your grandmother has a fall and breaks her hip or your father is having a heart attack or your daughter an asthma attack, it is increasingly unlikely an ambulance will be coming in your hour of need.
“This is an extraordinary failure by the Premier, her Health Minister and her government.
“Our hard-working doctors, nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals are working around the clock under immense pressure to keep Queenslanders safe.
“Every hour of every day they are being let down by this incompetent government.
“Queenslanders have rightly had enough.
“The government must fix the Queensland Health Crisis.”
Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates said the LNP had solutions on the table including more beds, better triaging, releasing real-time data and giving power back to the frontline staff to make better decisions to improve patient care.
“As a nurse and former hospital administrator, I know how stressful it can be for our dedicated frontline staff who are overworked and under-resourced,” she said.
“Our exhausted paramedics are doing an incredible job under the toughest conditions, but they are being let down by this government.
“Queensland Health was in crisis long before Covid, the Minister can no longer hide.
“She is losing control of Queensland Health.
“She must listen and she must act.
“Queenslanders deserve so much better than this.”