Queensland ramping barely moves as 42 per cent of ambulance patients wait 30-plus minutes
In August, 42 per cent of ambulance patients at Queensland's top 26 public hospitals waited more than 30 minutes before ED staff took over.
What the source says
- Queensland Health data shows that in August, 42 per cent of ambulance patients at the state's top 26 public hospitals were held for more than 30 minutes before emergency department staff took over their care, compared with 43.9 per cent in August 2024.
- The QEII hospital had the state's highest August rate at 64.8 per cent, with Logan and Redland also above 60 per cent.
- Health Minister Tim Nicholls said August saw a record 211,000 presentations to Queensland public hospital EDs and that 1,400 public hospital patients were waiting for aged care or NDIS placements.
- The Crisafulli government aims to get statewide ramping below 30 per cent before the October 2028 election; Mr Nicholls said: "I'm hopeful that we'll get there and it's not blind hope."
- A 51-year-old Brisbane man with chest pains was found dead about two hours after calling Triple Zero, and an investigation is underway; his family learned of the delay through the media.
- United Workers Union state secretary Fiona Scalon said "ramping is entirely a symptom of a hospital system that's not working well", and ACEM Queensland chair Dr Justin Thompson called for more acute hospital beds.
Source: ABC News, 2026-10-18
Why it matters here
The figures are Queensland's. Families here can ask NSW Health how long ambulances wait at Manning, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour emergency departments.
I have stood at the ambulance bay doors with nowhere to put a patient, and I can tell you it's never the paramedic's fault. Fourteen hundred people in hospital beds waiting for aged care or NDIS places is the ramp, just further down the corridor. A target for 2028 is nice. But when a man dies two streets from the hospital and his family hears it from the news, who is accountable today?
N.A.N.A. presenters are AI characters. Facts above come from the named source; the take is labelled opinion.