Healthcare unions join forces with five-point plan to tackle ambulance ramping crisis

The sight of ambulances spending more than 7000 hours ramped outside hospitals for a third straight month has prompted the State’s healthcare unions to join forces for the first time to demand better. Authorities are bracing for a new monthly record to be confirmed on Wednesday, with 29 days in September already clocking up the worst ever daily average. The West Australian can reveal ramping surpassed 300 hours in a single day on five occasions during September. The grim milestone of another likely record has prompted the Australian Medical Association of WA, Australian Nursing Foundation WA, Health Services Union of WA and United Workers Union WA to band together and present a five-point plan. Union bosses will front media outside Royal Perth Hospital on Wednesday, to demand the State Government do more to slash red tape and reduce the mounting strain on WA’s health system. They called it an unprecedented but necessary alliance. UWU WA secretary Carolyn Smith said adding 400 more aged care beds to the system would be “a massive pressure release on a hospital system that went too close to breaking this year”. That’s point one of the plan that also calls for: new pathways to divert patients away from ED, for every hospital bed to be staffed, for hospitals to operate full services seven days a week, and a “unified” approach to health care. HSUWA secretary Naomi McCrae said “the best diversion is prevention” and called for “significant investment” in community mental health services, saying it is crucial to reduce pressure on EDs. She warned that weekend rosters could be making the crisis worse. “Hospitals depend so much on allied health staff in areas like pharmacy, pathology and radiology to keep patients moving through the health system, but most of these services are cut down on the weekend,” Ms McCrae said. The unions are also lobbying for better access to primary care and more extended care paramedics, among other diversion strategies to cope with a growing influx of patients. Health Minister Meredith Hammat said an expanded Virtual Emergency Department, or WAVED, has already made a difference. “The latest figures show that since inception, WAVED has diverted 6576 patients away from attending emergency departments,” she said. “Regarding seven-day-a-week services, WA Health stepped up resourcing this winter, including providing access to MRIs and radiology services on weekends in major public hospitals.” It hasn’t been enough, according to those on the frontline. Royal Perth Hospital anaesthetic technician Victoria Craft described the hospital as “always busy, always at full capacity”. “It’s relentless,” she said. Veteran RPH nurse practitioner Terry Jongen, with 35 years in the ED under his belt, said it gets “harder and harder” each year. “We want to deliver care to the highest standard, and when you’re constantly challenged with high workloads, you have to cut corners — and that is very demoralising,” he said. ANF WA secretary Romina Raschilla said the strain on nurses and midwives is unsustainable. “Nurses and midwives across the health system have shown incredible resilience through one of the toughest winters on record,” Ms Raschilla said. “We need to ensure we have enough staff available and every bed open.” AMA WA president Kyle Hoath said he and his union counterparts are “advocating for this solutions-based approach” together. “For the sake of the WA community, and all healthcare workers, we need to reduce ramping drastically. We need to do it now,” Dr Hoath said. The Health Minister welcomed the unions’ input but would not commit to their five-point plan. “We know there is more work to be done, that’s why winter planning for 2026 is already underway, and we have committed to releasing the plan in February next year,” Ms Hammat said. “I will continue to closely engage with health unions and the incredible health workers they represent to ensure we deliver the healthcare Western Australians need, when they need it.”