We’ve seen countless media reports in recent days, weeks and months about the ramping of ambulances at hospital emergency departments (EDs) around Australia. Ambulance ramping occurs when paramedics are made to wait at the hospital’s entrance and are unable to transfer their patient into the emergency department within an appropriate time frame—defined as 30 minutes in South Australia. Ramping is an indicator of hospital stress. It means patients are waiting longer to receive care in the emergency department, and patients requiring inpatient care are waiting longer to access a hospital Read More