Tasmanian ramping inquiry hears 'harrowing' stories of ambulance patients forced to wait for treatment

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Tasmania's parliamentary inquiry into ambulance ramping has received dozens of damning submissions painting a picture of a struggling system showing few signs of improvement. Patients and health care workers have shared harrowing stories of anxious waits, accidental overdoses and ambulances that never arrived.

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00:00 I saw three sunrises from within the Launceston General Hospital waiting room and only then

00:06 was seen to by emergency staff.

00:09 In those six hours, my mum's pain became worse.

00:13 She could not keep anything down.

00:15 She died five days later.

00:17 No one had recorded how much fentanyl the hospital had administered.

00:20 Luckily, the patient recovered from this overdose.

00:24 These are just a few of the stories that have come out of a parliamentary inquiry into ambulance

00:28 ramping in Tasmania.

00:30 While the committee has yet to start hearings, dozens of submissions from patients and healthcare

00:34 workers have just been made public.

00:37 This is a harrowing read and it points to the absolute importance of this inquiry.

00:42 The submissions include details of a 93-year-old with a fractured pelvis who waited three hours

00:48 for an ambulance and then was ramped for another seven.

00:53 And a pregnant woman who was assaulted by her partner and had to be driven to hospital

00:57 by the perpetrator's father because no ambulance was available.

01:02 The crisis in the health system and ambulance ramping is not only having a negative impact

01:06 on the patients and the families themselves, but it's having an impact on health professionals.

01:11 They're telling us morale has never been as bad as it is today.

01:15 One health worker told the inquiry paramedics have been reduced to babysitters.

01:21 The scope of practice is not designed for ongoing care in hospital hallways.

01:26 One of the most damning submissions came from the acting director of the Royal Hobart Hospital's

01:31 emergency department, who said a lack of beds meant patients spend excess time in ED, leaving

01:37 those who are trying to get in, ramped in corridors.

01:41 He said those beds are full because people don't have anywhere to go, making it a broader

01:46 health system issue.

01:48 We recognise there's pressures right across health systems in every state and territory.

01:54 There are very many front page news stories of challenges of an increasing demand on our

02:00 health system right across the country.

02:02 The inquiry will hand down its recommendations early next year.

02:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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