Albany ambulance ramping reaches new February record amid Statewide surge

Ambulances were ramping outside Albany Health Campus for more than 16 hours in February — the second highest monthly total on record for the hospital.

February’s ambulance ramping figures for AHC — published by St John Ambulance — were nearly four times higher than the January figures.

The surge comes as WA’s overall ambulance ramping increased by 40 per cent last month compared with February 2021.

Across WA, St John Ambulance recorded 4359 hours of ambulance ramping outside hospitals in February, up from 3156 hours in February 2021 and 1766 hours in February 2020.

WA hospitals aim to take in patients within 30 minutes of their ambulance arriving at the emergency department.

Any wait time after that is referred to as ambulance ramping.

Ambulance ramping at AHC reached a historic monthly high of 19 hours in May 2021, which at the time was more than double the previous record.

After reaching 13.5 hours in June 2021, ramping dropped to just 0.9 hours in November.

Shadow health minister Libby Mettam said the figures showed WA hospitals had serious capacity issues.

“With only 11 patients in hospital with COVID symptoms yesterday and very few flu cases in the community, it is extraordinary that we are recording such shocking ramping figures,” Ms Mettam said on Tuesday.

“It raises the question of whether the McGowan Government’s premature introduction of level two restrictions is due to a hospital system already under increasing strain before any real peak in COVID or flu cases.”