Multi-million dollar boost for WA ambulance service

28/4/04
The State Government will spend an extra $34.7million to put more ambulances on the road, improve response times and reduce the need for ambulance diversion and ramping at hospital emergency departments.
Health Minister Jim McGinty said a new five-year contract with St John Ambulance (SJA) would give Western Australians better access to emergency care.
The extra funds would pay for 30 new ambulances and more than 100 new ambulance officers and communications staff. This would enable SJA to put five more 24-hour ambulance crews and 16 extra day crews on the road in the metropolitan area and a further 12 officers in the country.
"The State Government's increased investment represents an almost 40 per cent boost in funding to St John Ambulance," Mr McGinty said.
"Ambulance demand has increased on average by six per cent per annum in the past 10 years."
In 2002-03, demand on ambulance services saw response times in WA fall below acceptable national standards.

Mr McGinty said response times were now expected to improve significantly with the additional funding. Emergency cases (priority one) should be attended to within 10 minutes; urgent cases (priority two) within 15 minutes; and non-urgent cases within 40 minutes.
"The extra ambulances and manpower will ensure St John continues to meet the emergency needs of the growing population in Western Australia," the Minister said.
Access to emergency services will also be improved with the computer system recently installed in the St John Ambulance control room.
The system links the ambulance control room directly to the emergency departments throughout the metropolitan area and provides the SJA control room with an up-to-date snapshot of each emergency department.
Ambulance co-ordinators will know how many patients are being treated in each emergency department; how many patients are waiting; how many beds are available; and how many ambulances each emergency department has received in the last four hours.
The information is updated every five minutes and will ensure ambulances are directed to the hospital best able to cope with emergency patients at any given time.
"Connecting the St John Ambulance control room with emergency departments will significantly reduce the need for diversion and ramping at metropolitan hospitals," Mr McGinty said.
Royal Perth, Sir Charles Gairdner, Fremantle, Rockingham, Swan District and Armadale Hospitals are all linked to the system. Joondalup Health Campus will be on line shortly.
St John Ambulance chief executive officer Ian Kaye-Eddie said he was delighted that the Government had agreed to provide the additional funds.
"This will enable St John to respond to emergency calls and the distribution of patients to hospitals more effectively over the next five years," Mr Kaye-Eddie said.
The new contract with SJA complements other State Government initiatives to relieve pressure on hospital emergency departments, including:

• a $20million allocation to open 332 extra hospital beds across metropolitan hospitals;

• four new after-hours, bulk-billing emergency medical centres adjacent to major hospitals;

• $22million to upgrade hospital emergency departments; and

• recruitment of 927 more full-time salaried nurses in public hospitals.

In another initiative, the Government will trial a five-month program, in which some non-urgent calls to SJA will be transferred to the HealthDirect call centre for detailed assessment. Appropriate patients who do not require ambulance attendance will then be referred to alternative care options, rather than being taken to emergency departments.
"The combined impact of these strategies will enable our metropolitan public hospitals and emergency departments to operate more effectively with shorter waiting times, reduced emergency department congestion and less ambulance diversion," Mr McGinty said.
Minister's office: 9220 5000