New figures have revealed Queensland’s ambulance ramping rate – 38% across the state – is the highest in Australia. Patients are suffering as a result. It means that 38% of all arrivals at Queensland hospitals wait longer than they should to be taken into hospital, and it also means that those ambulances that are stuck on ramps cannot be dispatched to help other people in need.

This affects areas like the Scenic Rim so much more because getting another ambulance (one that is not ramped) takes longer because of the distance from our towns to the major hospitals where ambulances get stuck. On both counts, this is extremely serious. I want to thank all doctors, nurses and other health professionals for the sterling job they do. They are highly skilled and diligent people. They do a terrific job in a system that is not working for anybody the way it should – a system that needs fixing. 

We need – and deserve – a health system that is able to treat Queenslanders in their hour of need. Unfortunately, things are not heading in the right direction. Recent information released shows that 17 hospitals across the State have recorded increases in ambulance ramping, with almost one in every two patients at the Gold Coast University Hospital being left on stretchers in corridors and hallways for longer than 30 minutes. 

On the other side of the Scenic Rim Electorate in Ipswich, LNP Leader David Crisafulli and Shadow Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Ros Bates held a ‘town hall meeting’ recently to hear from locals and health professionals about the health crisis. Ipswich Hospital has the worst ambulance ramping in the State, with 56% of patients who arrive in ambulances waiting longer than they should for treatment. Stories were heard from Queenslanders waiting hours for emergency treatment and from locals who have been on the surgery waiting list for years. 

The Labor Government urgently needs to find a plan to fix Queensland’s hospitals because these new figures are deeply concerning. 

Queenslanders have seen the images of ambos and police queued up at hospitals and heard the stories from patients being forced to wait hours for care. Lives are on the line here, and the State must start listening to Queenslanders, acknowledge there is a problem and make changes to fix this issue.

Scenic Rim Electorate Office
You can contact me by phone, toll-free, on 1800 813 960, or email scenicrim@parliament.qld.gov.au, so I can lobby on your behalf in Brisbane. In an electorate as large as the Scenic Rim, there are lots of issues, and I appreciate your feedback that helps me do my job as well as possible.