Yesterday, the ambulance service in Western Australia ran out of backup staff to handle any more calls, which marked a new low in the state’s medical crisis.
According to the Australian Medical Association of Western Australia, ambulance ramping is the reason why St John Ambulance’s backup capacity in the metro region was at zero percent.
Ambulances had to wait about 6000 hours to discharge patients in August.
Yesterday, over six ambulances were kept waiting for over ninety minutes at the Royal Perth Hospital.
Paramedics are prohibited by law from responding to any further calls while they are ramping up.
According to a St. John Ambulance spokesman, standby capacity is not a reliable predictor of overall triple zero availability; rather, it serves to facilitate unambiguous decision-making, such as rerouting a crew.
According to data, only 73% of paramedics arrive at high priority situations within 15 minutes, indicating a failure to reach priority one standards.
According to Michael Page, president of the Australian Medical Association WA, “paramedics need to be able to get out to the sickest patients as quickly as they can.”
“The hospital is full, so they can’t do it if they’re waiting outside emergency rooms.
“Our hospitals simply do not have the capacity to treat the number of patients that they need to be able to treat.”
According to the administration, the state’s 96–100% full aged care facilities were the cause of the strain.
