Government Intervenes to Speed Up Western Australia’s Ambulance Response Times

Premier Mark McGowan speaks to media at Dumas House in Perth, Australia on December 24, 2021. (Photo by Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)

The Western Australian (WA) government is co-ordinating a multi-agency response to help the St John Ambulance Service deal with the current staff shortage and speed up ambulance response times.

Senior Department of Health and WA Police representatives are now stationed at the St John’s Ambulance headquarters to assist the service, ensuring appropriate emergency response coordination.

In this unprecedented action, the government is working with St Johns, a privately owned company, to address staff shortage pressures attributable to COVID-19 infections.

This comes as the state deals with an ambulance ramping crisis. The total number of hours ambulances were ramped across Western Australia in 2021 was over 52,000, more than double the number of hours seen in 2020 (25,900), according to St John Ambulance WA, and there is no relief in sight.

Ambulance “ramping” is the term used when a patient needs to wait over 30 minutes in an ambulance outside a hospital before the emergency department (ED) can receive them.

The government intervention also comes after a Perth woman died from a suspected heart attack after waiting two and a half hours for an ambulance on the Sunday morning of May 15.

WA Premier Mark McGowan said what happened that weekend was unacceptable, and an immediate response was needed.

“There is no doubt staff furlough pressures due to the pandemic can be challenging, but our ambulance service must adapt and be there for the community,” he said.

“My government is committed to doing everything within its power to support St John to meet their obligations and the expectations of the community.

“This unprecedented action will see people who have been key to our pandemic response support St John through this time, and I am grateful for their assistance and expertise,” McGowan said.

The United Workers Union (UWU) welcomed the state government’s intervention, saying that it had been warning St John since January that it was not well-enough prepared to cope with the Omicron outbreak, but the warnings were not heeded.

UWU National Ambulance Coordinator Fiona Scalon expressed relief that the government was stepping in for the sake of both the ambulance workers and people who rely on a functioning ambulance service.

“St John is claiming they couldn’t foresee this inevitable crisis. There were plenty of levers they could have pulled before it got to this point,” she said.

“Well, things are now at breaking point, and I can only hope the government’s strategy can help alleviate the huge amount of stress that St John staff, including paramedics, are under.”

Scalon added that this is only a short-term solution and that an overhaul of the ambulance service was needed.

Over the past five years, the union has been pushing to bring the service back into the public sector.

Meanwhile, St John chief executive Michelle Fyfe said she was happy for WA Health to come and take a closer look at the impact of ramping, ABC reported.

“We welcome the premier clearing the path for us to be able to cooperate with our emergency services partners and with the Department of Health as we tackle one of the most difficult times in our history,” she said.

“We welcome the opportunity to have the Deputy Chief Health Officer come inside of our organisation and have a look and understand exactly the impact of a stressed health system, and extended transfer of care or ramping, and the impact that has on frontline service delivery for ambulance.”

However, Fyfe denied that St John WA was being taken over by the government.

Mia Davies, Leader of the Opposition and Nationals WA, attends a luncheon at the Perth USAsia Centre in Perth, Australia, on June 9, 2021. (Photo by Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)

WA opposition leader Mia Davies defended St John on Friday, saying that while a recent report highlighted issues for St John Ambulance to address, it proved the state government also needed to step up.

She said the “Delivery of Ambulance Services in Western Australia: Critical Condition” report, also tabled on Friday, clearly points out that inaction by the WA government has impacted St John’s ability to function efficiently at state hospitals.

“Due to a failure by this government over the past five years to adequately fund WA’s health care system, ambulance ramping has reached a crisis point on their watch,” Davies said.

“This government now needs to start working collaboratively with St John’s to deliver the ambulance service West Australians deserve.”

Meanwhile, Shadow Health Minister Libby Mettam said the report states increased ramping has contributed to St John’s inability to meet the expected target response time, which should be within 15 minutes for a priority one emergency in metropolitan areas.

“The McGowan government needs to take responsibility for its role in these dangerous levels of ramping, which have worsened since they came to power in 2017,” she said.

Mettam added that with the WA government recording a $5.7 billion (US$4 billion) surplus in the recent Budget, it’s “appalling” that the state’s health system is in its current condition.