Opposition slams McGowan Government on ambulance waiting times at Albany Health Campus

WA’s shadow health minister Zak Kirkup has taken a swipe at the McGowan Government for an increase in ambulance waiting times at Albany Health Campus. In WA, hospitals aim to take in a patient within 30 minutes of their ambulance arriving at the emergency department. Any waiting time after that is referred to as ambulance “ramping”. So far this financial year, ambulances have spent 14 hours waiting past the target time frame — or ramping — at Albany’s ED, according to St John WA statistics. “This is a shameful milestone of the Labor Government that is putting the health and welfare of regional West Australians at risk,” Mr Kirkup said. In July, August and September last year, just three hours of ambulance ramping were recorded. Ambulance ramping at the Albany hospital totalled 26 hours throughout the 2019-2020 financial year. “With every hour that an ambulance is ramped at a hospital, it means they can’t be responding to priority calls out in the Albany community,” Mr Kirkup said. “As a volunteer ambulance officer myself, I know how vital our ambulance service is. “I saw on my last visit to Albany Health Campus with our Liberal candidate Scott Leary what a great job the paramedics, doctors and nurses are doing. It’s disappointing they are being let down by this Government.” The Extra directed questions on the ambulance ramping issue to Health Minster Roger Cook but was then referred to the WA Country Health Service. “While there is always room for improvement, suggesting that there is a significant delay in accessing care through Albany Health Campus isn’t accurate,” a WACHS spokeswoman said. “Emergency-access targets remain stable and patients are not waiting longer than normal to access care.”