What crisis? Health Minister Meredith Hammat has a plan but can’t guarantee ramping will improve next year

The Health Minister says she’s “disappointed” that record ambulance ramping is getting even worse, not better, but won’t call more than 7200 hours in September a crisis and won’t stake her job on fixing it before next winter. “We’re obviously looking at all of the things that we can do to make next winter better,” Meredith Hammat said on Wednesday. “I’m focused as Health Minister on making sure people have got access to the health care they needed.” Asked whether three straight months of ramping records above 7000 hours was proof people cannot access health care, the Minister repeated her answer. “My focus is making sure that people have got access. We’re doing a range of things to improve that,” she said. Premier Roger Cook called it a “challenge” and a “concern”, after September figures confirmed the worst ever month recorded by St John WA, with ambulances spending 7,257 hours ramped outside EDs — higher than the previous records in July and August. Mr Cook also refused to call it a crisis, but Labor powerbroker and United Workers Union boss Carolyn Smith did. “We have a crisis in our paramedics way, we have a crisis in hospitals and we have a crisis in aged care,” she said. “This cannot continue.” Ms Smith is part of the same Labor faction as the Minister and Premier, who denied they’re at odds. “Look, I don’t (think so). I believe that we have the right approach and that is continuing to invest in hospital infrastructure, grow our workforce and utilise technology and digital innovation to divert people away from EDs,” Mr Cook said. There was a united front from unions outside Royal Perth Hospital on Wednesday, as they detailed their own five-point plan to combat ramping — heaping pressure on the Government to respond. “I welcome the announcement by the health unions, I work closely with them,” Mr Cook said. Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas called the latest ramping figures “a failure of absolutely epic proportions” and said the Government should be embarrassed. While, Shadow Health Minister Libby Mettam said a bad flu season was no excuse. “As night follows day there is a flu season every single year, and yet this government have failed to ensure our hospitals are prepared,” she said. Australian Medical Association WA president Kyle Hoath said the unions were not demanding a political scalp, but were keen to set key performance indicators for the Government to be held to over the next year. “I feel like we are belting them a bit now,” he said. “Never have the four hospital unions stood side by side to ask for actions from the Government. “We will be looking for an increase in aged care beds, we will be looking for system wide reform in terms of process, we’ll be looking for things like immunisation, other preventative measures. “This is a plan that gives us something to measure.” St John WA praised Ms Hammat’s “warmth and curiosity”, after she spent three hours on a ride-along on Monday to see the ambulance frontline for herself. Two supplementary crews were added to accompany the Minister, but St John WA confirmed both were full operational on a day that recorded more than 300 hours of ramping. Paramedic Chris Pike urged Ms Hammat and other politicians to remember the real people behind the numbers. “Every ramped hour is a patient who needs to be in hospital and we can’t victim blame and tell them that they should be going to their GP because there are not enough GPs,” he said.