Ambulance ramping: Nearly half of patients wait on a stretcher for longer than 30 minutes
Queensland's emergency departments have experienced their busiest quarter ever, facing unprecedented demand and extended wait times for patients on stretchers. As health emerges as a pivotal issue in the upcoming election, both political parties have leveraged this quarterly data to score political points, each critiquing the other's plans and policies in light of the recent healthcare challenges.
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TVTranscript
00:00 On a crisp Sunday morning in Eight Mile Plains, a phalanx of senior Queensland Labor Ministers
00:07 pulled back the curtain to reveal a good news health story. But the hangover of a quiet
00:15 Saturday night drop of damning hospital performance figures loomed large.
00:21 To do it on a Saturday night in the middle of a weekend when Queenslanders are enjoying
00:26 themselves is deeply troubling.
00:28 The first quarter figures revealed more than 45 per cent of ambulance patients were waiting
00:33 on stretches for more than 30 minutes. It was the busiest quarter ever, with 290 more
00:40 arrivals per day than the same time last year.
00:43 The 26th of February saw more than 5,500 emergency presentations, the second busiest day on record.
00:50 In January and February we were absolutely inundated with patients arriving by ambulance
00:56 and the highest number of triple zero calls in Queensland's history.
01:00 45.5 per cent ambulance ramping, the worst in history for our state.
01:05 Demand and population growth were factors.
01:08 You know what, more than 4,000 Queenslanders got off the stretcher within 30 minutes than
01:14 the same time last year. So as a percentage it's steady.
01:18 New data also revealed the state has recorded a surge in tuberculosis, 87 cases compared
01:24 to the annual average of 55.
01:27 The government says the number of people moving to Queensland is one of the factors putting
01:32 pressure on the health system.
01:34 Last week there was an unusual accord when the Queensland Premier and Federal Opposition
01:39 Leader both raised concerns about current immigration rates.
01:43 But David Crisafulli remains on the fence.
01:46 Well that's a federal decision, you know that.
01:50 He's also yet to reveal his plans to fix the ramping crisis if he takes office in October,
01:55 other than a promise to release more data.
01:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]