Ambulance ramping is a critically important issue that requires urgent attention, but the Liberals are apparently more interested in trying to mislead the community than they are in taking action.
A government spokesperson was reported in the Mercury today, in response to the shocking increase in ambulance ramping, as saying:
“…recent AMA data shows almost 80 percent of patients in Tasmania were transferred from ambulance to hospital within 30 minutes”
This “recent” data is in fact from the 2020-21 financial year. The information the Greens extracted from the Government in Estimates shows things have become so much worse since then, with a large drop to just 67.5% of arrivals being transferred within 30 minutes. In other words, around a third of all ambulance arrivals are now ramped for longer than half an hour.
What the Liberals have done is deliberately provide out-of-date information to try and mislead Tasmanians, in a futile effort to defend their terrible record on ramping.
The rapid growth in ramping in recent years is exactly why the Greens, unions, and healthcare staff are sounding the alarm. With the Government resorting to using old figures to defend themselves, it only underscores our point – things are quickly getting much worse for patients who need timely emergency care.
The Liberals also failed to mention their own target for ambulance ramping is to have 100% of ambulance arrivals transferred into hospital within 30 minutes. They are continuing to miss this target by greater amounts every year – so far in 2022-23 the figure is just over 67% statewide.*
You would expect these appalling figures to be a wake-up call for the Government. They would know, from a Victorian study released last year, that patients ramped more than 17 minutes are at greater risk of poor health and death.
The Premier can try and mislead the Tasmanian people all he likes, or blame someone or something else for the crisis in ramping. The community doesn’t buy it.
Jeremy Rockliff is the Premier and Health Minister, and it’s his job to prioritise the money and focus needed to improve ramping. We desperately need that now.
*At the Royal Hobart Hospital, more than 40% of ambulance patients are ramped longer than half an hour, and at the LGH it is over 37%.
