Ambulance ramping emergency

Rockingham General Hospital experienced its highest number of ambulance ramping hours in more than five years in September, with the cold and wet weather blamed for the spike.

Statistics show the highest monthly maximum for 2016 was 62.1 hours in August, before an unprecedented jump to 204.1 hours last month.

An increase in ambulance ramping times at other Perth hospitals has been reported in the past three months, with Rockingham seemingly unaffected until now.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said in this period the hospital experienced an increase in the number of acute medical patients that required inpatient care.

This reduced the availability of beds for emergency patients requiring admission and the flow from ambulances to the emergency department.

Rockingham Peel Group acting executive director Kathleen Smith said the hospital acknowledged the increased ambulance ramping hours for September.

“As our priority is to provide safe, high quality and accessible care to the local community, we are focussing our efforts on improving access to our inpatient beds for emergency patients, which will help improve patient flow from the Emergency Department and reduce ambulance ramping,” she said.

Health Minister John Day said WA hospitals were still leading the nation in treating or discharging ED patients within four hours.

“The South Metropolitan Health Service is committed to reducing ambulance ramping, and I urge it to continue working on this,” he said.

“We have just experienced the coldest September in decades and levels of influenza activity this winter are the highest they have been since 2012, but ramping figures are now reducing.

“High-acuity patients are attended to quickly but what we do know is that approximately one quarter of people attending EDs have lower-need Category 4 and 5 conditions — issues such as colds, sprained ankles and minor injuries.

“Lower-acuity patients where appropriate should seek to utilise alternative options such as GPs or urgent care clinics.”

Mr Day said there had been no cuts to hospital funding and overall health funding in the Budget was up 5 per cent.

Opposition health spokesman Roger Cook said Perth hospitals were under enormous pressure and patients were waiting longer for the care they needed.

“Not only is it occurring at record levels outside our hospitals, we are hearing reports of a new kind of ramping occurring inside emergency departments, with patients placed in hospital corridors waiting to be seen by staff,” he said.