Ambulance ramping spike at Royal Hobart Hospital 'unprecedented', union says
Updated
A photo has emerged showing what a union says is unprecedented ramping at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH).
The image shows three ambulances which the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) claims were unable to drop off patients in the emergency department this afternoon.
Ramping occurs when ambulances are forced to wait with patients outside a hospital.
The union's Tim Jacobson said he had never seen it so bad.
"Today we've seen ramping like we've never seen it before, we've seen ambulances right up the ramp to Royal, essentially without precedent to see ambulances tied up in this capacity," he said.
"When you see an ambulance stopped outside a hospital and unable to offload it means that the ambulance is not able to respond to emergencies in their community, it is a finite resource."
Mr Jacobson blamed the ramping on a lack of hospital beds.
"This current situation we are attributing to a lack of beds, beds are full, but also a peak in demand and we are unable to determine at this point what that peak is," he said.
"In a 2017 health system we should have a sufficient number of beds and sufficient numbers of ambulances and clinicians to ensure people get seen when they need to be."
The Government would not say how severe the ramping was, but in a statement said overall the incidence was reducing.
"Under the Hodgman Liberal Government ramping hours at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) have decreased by 60 per cent," it said.
"When there are periods of high demand, protocols are implemented to ensure that patients are treated as quickly as possible by opening beds where required.
"It is a normal process, and ensures maximum efficiency."
Topics: health-administration, healthcare-facilities, hobart-7000
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