SA ambulance union fears another ramping record as patients wait
The union reported 82 pending ambulance cases at 6am, while the premier pointed to a shortage of aged care beds as a factor in hospital pressure.
South Australia's ambulance union fears ramping could reach another monthly record after paramedics reported lengthy patient waits overnight. Ambulance Employees Association general secretary Paul Ekkelboom said on 7 October that as many as 16 ambulances had been ramped at Lyell McEwin Hospital following the long weekend.
Ekkelboom said 82 cases were still awaiting a response at 6am. He reported waits ranging from four hours to an estimated 20 hours for priority 3 patients, whose ambulance response benchmark is 30 minutes.
He said 10 priority 2 cases remained pending through the night, with most responses missing the 16-minute benchmark. Such cases usually involve conditions including chest pain, stroke or collapse. Ekkelboom said ramping left fewer ambulances available to respond within the required times.
Opposition health spokesperson Jack Batty said every metropolitan Adelaide hospital had been under a code white, indicating capacity had reached at least 125 per cent. He said no emergency bed was available across metropolitan Adelaide that night.
A state government spokesperson said code whites had also occurred regularly under the previous Liberal government. Premier Peter Malinauskas said nearly 600 hospital patients were ready for discharge into aged care but could not leave because beds were unavailable. He said ambulance response times had improved but remained under pressure from ramping.
Ramping totalled a record 5,891 hours in August, followed by 5,507 hours in September.
