In Queensland, 42% of ambulance patients waited more than 30 minutes — ABC News Australia

In the Australian state of Queensland, in August, 42% of patients transported by ambulance to the 26 largest public hospitals waited more than 30 minutes before being transferred from a stretcher to the emergency department. This delay is known as ramping — when an ambulance crew remains with a patient outside an overcrowded emergency department. This was reported by ABC News Australia.

The figure is only slightly lower than the 43.9% recorded in August before the Liberal National Party government was elected in October 2024. The state government has set a goal of reducing the share of such delays to below 30% by the election in October 2028.

Worst figures in Metro South

At Logan, Redland and QEII hospitals, which belong to the Metro South region, more than 60% of patients brought by ambulance waited over half an hour to be transferred to the emergency department. QEII Hospital had the state's highest figure in August, at 64.8%.

Paramedics told the outlet that they sometimes spend an entire 10- or 12-hour shift with a single patient outside a hospital. One of them said that on the day he spoke to journalists, he had waited with a patient outside Logan Hospital for five hours. According to him, there have been cases in which Code 1 patients, the highest-priority cases requiring a siren response, waited two or three hours for a crew.

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Queensland Ambulance Service said it had improved response times to calls involving the most critically ill patients over the past year, while acknowledging workers' concerns over the growing strain on the healthcare system.

Investigation into a man's death

An investigation is ongoing into the circumstances of the death of a 51-year-old man with chest pain who lived several streets away from Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. Last weekend, paramedics found him dead at home about two hours after a call to the Triple Zero emergency number.

Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the government still expects to meet its ramping target. He also linked the problem to about 1,400 public hospital patients waiting for places in aged-care facilities or support under the National Disability Insurance Scheme. According to him, freeing up even 200 hospital beds could significantly improve the situation.