Ramping has decreased by more than 40 per cent during the month of September to the lowest level in more than a year, as the Malinauskas Labor Government continues to build a bigger health system.
Ambulance ramping decreased across all metropolitan hospitals in September, to 3,106 hours, a 41 per cent reduction compared to August (5,284 hours) – the biggest ever hours improvement in ramping hours in a month – and a 44 per cent reduction compared to July.
Ambulance response times also improved for both Priority 1 and 2 callouts – overall the best September ambulance response times in four years.
Across the state, the Malinauskas Labor Government has pledged to open more than 600 extra beds, including more than 330 over the course of this year and next – the equivalent of a new Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
At the QEH, where 67 new beds and a new hospital avoidance hub have recently opened, ramping decreased by 49 per cent from August to September, from 1173 hours to 597.
The new BRIGHT Woodville avoidance hub – based at the QEH's old emergency department – has already helped more than 1300 South Australians avoid unnecessary visits to the ED.
Since opening on July 15, about 560 ambulances have been referred to the service by SA Ambulance Service with a further 760 patients referred by other care providers such as GPs.
The service provides multidisciplinary care to patients whose care needs can be safely managed outside of an emergency department, offering consultations, medical imaging, telemetry, pathology, supported transport, timely acute assessment and treatment and onward referral to community care.
To access BRIGHT, patients must be referred by an approved referral service such as general practice, emergency departments, community care providers, SA Virtual Care Service and SAAS.
Across town at the Lyell McEwin Hospital, where 48 beds opened six weeks ago, ramping reduced by 42 per cent, from 675 hours in August to 391 hours in September – its best September result in three years
Two 24-bed wards opened to general medicine patients at the Lyell McEwin in late August as part of a $47 million upgrade project.
Since then, the number of patients waiting in the emergency department each morning for an inpatient bed has dropped by an average of 44 per cent.
Increasing the flow of patients between the ED and inpatient beds has created more capacity in the ED, allowing patients to be transferred from an ambulance into the care of ED teams much faster.
At the Lyell McEwin, there has also been an increase in the number of patients receiving care since the new beds were introduced, with an 11 per cent increase in general medicine and geriatric patients.
Flinders Medical Centre recorded a 35 per cent reduction in ramping hours – its best September result in four years. The Government opened 20 fast-track beds there in April.
In September, 65 per cent of Priority 2 callouts were seen on time, compared with 56 per cent in August, and 45 per cent in September 2022.
This means 2,475 more lights and sirens Priority 2 incidents arrived within the benchmark time of 16 minutes last month compared to September 2022.
Meanwhile, 76 per cent of Priority 1 callouts were seen on time, compared with 67 per cent in August and 52 per cent in September 2022.
Hospitals have also been busy seeing more elective surgery patients with 2,386 extra elective surgery operations conducted compared to the same time last year.
Full ramping data – including a hospital-by-hospital breakdown – can be found here.
As put by Peter Malinauskas
The results we are seeing is exactly why the State Government is committed to building a bigger health system.
There is still more work to do, but we are getting on with the task.
It's why we are delivering more than 600 extra beds across the state, including more than 330 extra beds over the course of this year and next which is the equivalent of a new Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
These new beds, along with additional healthcare workers, and more ambos on the road, are part of our record investment into the health system to ensure South Australians have access to the healthcare they need, when they need it.
As put by Chris Picton
We are building and opening every bed that we can and opening services like the western hospital avoidance hub to create more capacity in our health system.
Opening extra beds helps improve patient flow, in turn helping to reduce ambulance ramping. While it's great to see some improvements, we know there's still more work to do and we will continue our investments to build a bigger health system.
At the same time, we need to make sure patients can get out of hospital when they need to – and sadly right now there are more than 200 elderly patients stuck in hospital waiting for a Federal Government aged care bed.
As put by Joe Szakacs, Member for Cheltenham
It's fantastic to see the new western hospital avoidance hub delivering results for my local community.
Having useful alternatives like this to a busy ED is not only better for patients, it's better for the health system.
Our Government will continue building beds and delivering services to create a bigger health system for South Australians.
