By ALESHA CAPONE
AVERAGE ambulance waiting times at Sunshine Hospital have more than doubled in the past three years, according to figures obtained by the State Opposition.
Last week, the Opposition released ramping figures it has obtained under Freedom-of-Information laws.
‘Ramping’ refers to how long ambulances wait outside hospitals to transfer patients.
At Sunshine Hospital, in the 2009/10 year, the average ramping time was more than 240 hours per month.
In 2012/13, this number increased to just below 500 hours per month.
Out of 22 hospitals across Victoria, Sunshine Hospital logged the seventh-highest growth in median monthly ambulance waiting times.
Derrimut MP Telmo Languiller said the FOI documents showed ambulances were ‘ramped’ outside Sunshine Hospital for more than 5980 hours during the 12 months to June this year.
“These documents prove what doctors, nurses and paramedics have been saying for a long time now – that our health system has never been as bad as it is now,” Mr Languiller said.
Western Health’s executive director of operations, Russell Harrison, said ramping was an issue the organisation is attempting to address.
“Western Health is always committed to managing patients arriving by ambulance as quickly as possible,” he said.
“This is difficult given the increasing numbers of presentations to our emergency departments.
“We are working to increase the space available for emergency department patients and are considering several options.”
Ambulance Victoria regional manager Simon Thomson, said a report from Ambulance Transfer Taskforce has recommended a new system which the State Government has agreed to introduce to eliminate ramping.
Once implemented, the system will see hospitals take responsibility for patients as soon as they arrive via ambulance.
A spokesman for Health Minister David Davis said Sunshine Hospital had been treating a record numbers of patients after State Government funding provided 390 more nurses, 80 more doctors and 53 additional paramedics in the Western Metropolitan Region.
“This performance is a credit to the hard working staff and paramedics treating patients in the Sunshine area,” he said.
“It is disappointing that Telmo Languiller should not recognise this achievement.”
