The Queensland Health Department recent crisis talks have resulted in the adoption of a five-point plan with a $20 million investment to address ambulance ramping, following the deaths of two individuals within two days. Emergency department leaders convened to address means of supporting their staff, with recent ambulance data divulging that patients had endured waits of nearly 10 hours to receive a hospital bed. Health Minister Shannon Fentiman called for the meeting, mere days after the death of Wayne Irving and Cath Groom.
Ms. Fentiman announced an initial $20 million investment for the plan in order to hire more triage nurses and improve hospital medical imaging access. Another aspect of the plan will create a “medical commander” role for a doctor who will help manage patient flow at each hospital. Furthermore, the health minister will meet weekly with the acting director-general and senior clinicians to help implement these new measures.
In particular, the plan will promptly increase the number of triage and waiting room nurses to more quickly offload patients from ambulances to emergency departments. Additional elements of the plan include expanding rapid access clinics and surgical assessment units and funding GPs to employ patient care facilitators. After a few months, Ms. Fentiman plans to reconvene with the frontline clinician group and acknowledges that there will not be a simple solution to the ambulance ramping issue after examining the latest data.