Ambulance ramping figures across SA, WA showing worrying systemic issues across health and aged care sectors

Evoking the energy and strategy of a badminton tournament, state and federal ministers have been lobbying accusations across the political stratosphere when it comes to the alarming ambulance ramping figures across the country. More than a localised problem across states and sectors, record figures for ambulance wait times have been seen across both South Australia and Western Australia, raising multi-state, multi-pronged systemic problems.

July 2024 saw patients waiting 5,539 hours in ambulances to get admitted in South Australia. This year that number is up to 5,866. WA’s prior peak was in 2022, when Western Australian’s spent 6,949 hours on the tarmac. WA eclipsed the 7000 this July for a total of 7009.7 hours, before being able to be admitted through the front doors.

When asked about bringing these numbers down, South Australian Health Minister Picton said, “We’re doing everything we possibly can,” stressing that, “we can’t deal with a federal aged care system.” Minister Picton noted that, “we’re putting pressure on the federal government.” WA’s Premier Cook has taken much the same approach by blaming Canberra for WA’s worsening ambulance and hospital conditions.

Minister Picton pointed to a glut of patients in South Australia’s hospitals who “shouldn’t be there.” Speaking to the ABC, Minister Picton noted the incredible pressure that the aged care sector is under and acknowledged that as Australia’s population ages, this problem is only going to worsen. The interconnected complexity of responsibility, sector and solve is laid bare by Minister Picton’s assessment of the cross-consequential crises of both aged care and hospital. “Aged care is under incredible pressure and that’s putting pressure on our hospitals system.”

As State ministers continue to lob comments to and lobby currency from Canberra, clinical, executive and advocate voices are increasingly frustrated at the lack of co-ordination and ownership of solves by both state and federal Governments. Minister Picton shared that currently, in speaking to his Federal counterpart, Minister Butler, “no resolution yet” is where matters were.

The President of WA’s Medical Association, Kyle Hoath, puts it frankly, ““At the end of the day, we need more beds. We need more capacity in our health system. It really can’t get any simpler than that.”

Looking at the numbers, WA has the second lowest percentage of beds per 1000 in the country. The state worse off at the bottom of the list being Victoria. WA’s Health Minister Hammat, when posed questions about the solves to the significant complexity of ramping times, hospital beds and capacity, a consistent rhetoric emerged, “We’re looking at everything we can do, we’re attacking it from every angle.”

Dr Hoath also brings up a concerning trend of the category of illnesses presenting in WA’s hospitals. Compounding a hospital and aged care system that doesn’t have enough beds, with finger-pointing levels of government responsibility, looking at a rapidly aging Australia, is the increasing numbers of serious illnesses needing treatment in emergency departments.

While Minister Hammat noted the government’s program to lower numbers of those presenting to hospital, through the Virtual Emergency Department program, supported by semi-urgent cases in WA’s emergency department dropping by 10% in 2020-2021, and 2023-2024, another problem has surfaced. A 15% increase in the gravely serious categories or resuscitation and emergency has the WA hospital system even more strained.

Dr Hoath states, “People are more unwell because they’re not getting the care they need at the right time.”

With a rapidly aging population, hospital and aged care sectors showing extreme strain, the complexity of need, solves and growth demands federal and state governments to work tightly and dynamically. To tackle these bi-partisan issues, a strong coalition of diverse insight, perspective, brainstorming and learning, with public and private actors in these sectors, is profoundly needed.