The Liberal Party has vowed to ban ambulance ramping at the state’s hospitals if re-elected by implementing a reduced time window for paramedics to transfer patients.
Jeremy Rockliff announced his party’s commitment to “fix” the “serious problem” of ramping and make it a thing of the past on Sunday.
“When there’s an emergency, I know just how important it is to get quick access to an ambulance and to hospital,” he said.
“But sometimes, there’s delays … Earlier this month, we announced a new protocol mandating a maximum 60-minute window for all patients arriving by ambulance to be transferred to the care of Emergency Department staff.
“A re-elected majority Rockliff Liberal Government will go one step further. We’re going to reduce this 60-minute window, to 30 minutes.”
He noted that, on average, ambulance crews take around 30 minutes to safely transfer their patients to the hospital’s care.
“Which means that effectively, we’re going to be banning ramping … and our paramedics will be freed up to deal with other emergencies.”
The policy will be phased in over the next two years, with the existing 60-minute window starting in the north-west next week, the north on March 18 and the south on March 25.
A shorter 45-minute window will come into effect in the second half of 2025, followed by the 30-minute transfer window in 2026.
Labor’s Anita Dow has criticised the “ridiculous” ban as “disrespectful to patients and healthcare workers”.
“The Liberals have had 10 years to address ambulance ramping. Instead of fixing the problem, ramping has doubled on their watch,” she said.
“This is a totally unserious policy. Who is going to care for the ambulance patients he’s planning to dump in overcrowded EDs?”
“If the Liberals haven’t come up with any serious ideas after 10 years, they never will.”
