AMBULANCES are spending up to 1000 hours a month waiting to transfer patients to wards at the three biggest hospitals in the western suburbs.
From the time an ambulance arrives at a hospital to when patients are admitted is known as ‘ramping’.
Figures obtained by the state opposition show ramping is rising, which further delays paramedics from responding to other jobs.
At Werribee Mercy Hospital, paramedics waited with patients on trolleys for 99 hours a month in the nine months to March, up from 83 hours a month in 2010-11.
The wait at Sunshine Hospital was 380 hours a month, up from 433 last year, and 540 hours a month at Footscray’s Western Hospital, up from 313.
As previously reported in the Weekly, Werribee Mercy chief executive Richard Ainley said Wyndham patients were often ferried to the west’s two larger hospitals as Werribee had no intensive care unit on site.
Opposition parliamentary health secretary Wade Noonan said the health system was in gridlock. “We need ambulances to attend emergencies, not in queues at hospitals.”
Budget papers have revealed ambulance response times for life-threatening emergencies are getting longer, with ambulances responding to fewer than 75 per cent of code 1 calls within 15 minutes.
Ambulance Victoria regional services manager Tony Walker said patient transfer times at hospitals could delay responses to triple-0 calls.
Health Minister David Davis said the budget included commitments to increase hospital capacities, such as $15.1million for Sunshine hospital’s intensive care unit, to move people out of the emergency department and improve flow.
