Ambulance waiting times have improved since July, despite a record number of patients seeking treatment in Queensland’s public hospitals in the September 2021 quarter.
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Yvette D’Ath said the improvements were the result of the Palaszczuk Government’s commitment to hiring more frontline health and ambulance workers and an extra $263.7 million for its Care4Qld initiatives to tackle unprecedented demand in the health system.
According to the Statewide Hospital Performance data for July-September 2021, presentations across the state’s emergency departments increased by seven per cent compared to the same period last year, outstripping population growth.
“During July, August and September, more than 628,000 people presented to an emergency department in Queensland,” Minister D’Ath said.
“Despite this unprecedented demand, our health and ambulance workforce is rising to the challenge.
“The number of patients coming off stretcher within the recommended 30 minute timeframe increased, compared to the same period last year.
“Since May there has been a 30 per cent reduction in ambulance wait times of more than two hours and a 30 per cent reduction in ambulance lost time minutes.
“Crucially, 100 per cent of Category 1 patients arriving to our hospitals were seen within the clinically recommended time of two minutes.
“This is a testament to our hardworking health and ambulance workers and the Palaszczuk Government’s record funding for health and ambulance services.
“While we welcome the improved performance, we’ll continue to work with all hospital and health services and the Queensland Ambulance Service to further improve our performance as we prepare for the extra demand pressures we know will come when Covid-19 is moving throughout our State.“
Minister D’Ath said the Palaszczuk Government was investing $22.2 billion in health and ambulance services in 2021-22 to fund new and improved hospitals, more specialist services and more frontline health workers.
“In addition to the government’s commitment to hire an extra 9475 health workers over four years, we are putting on an extra 60 ambulance workers on top of this.
“Queensland is investing more than ever in our health system, but we can’t do all the heavy lifting ourselves – we need the Morrison Government to step up.
“The Commonwealth needs to invest in better primary health care and improved access to GPs to reduce pressure on Queensland’s busy public hospitals.
“The Morrison Government could free up almost 600 Queensland hospital beds being occupied by patients who are better placed in aged and disability care accommodation, but they have failed to act.
“The States and Territories are all experiencing health system pressures and are unanimously calling on the Commonwealth to increase its share of health funding.”
Minister D’Ath said this latest release of hospital performance data was complemented by the Inform My Care data for the October to December quarter of 2020.
“Inform My Care allows Queenslanders to search across public and private hospital facilities for information on maternity options and outcomes, post-surgery infection rates, elective surgery wait times and other performance indicators.
“In this latest release, Queenslanders can find information on aged care facilities, including average daily resident care hours and for public residential aged care facilities, compliance with nurse and support worker-to-resident ratios.”
