An unprecedented alliance of unions covering more than 90,000 health workers in WA has come together to demand the state government take specific actions to tackle pressures in hospitals that they say are leading to ambulance ramping.
Ambulances were ramped at WA hospitals, waiting for beds to become available for patients, for a record high of 7200 hours each month for the past three months.
A five-point action plan document released jointly this week by AMA (WA), Australian Nursing Federation, Health Services Union and United Workers Union described how the strain of long shifts and staff shortages in “stretched hospitals” deepened in the past year.
The coalition of doctors, nurses and midwives, allied health professionals, health support staff and ambulance workers have listed the steps they say need to be taken to avoid another similar winter season.
The plan called for action on moving on elderly patients in hospitals awaiting aged care beds, a greater focus on preventative health, for the public health system to have all hospital beds staffed and for services to operate at full capacity over weekends to avoid Monday surges.
It also called for system wide protocols to be implemented for consistency across hospitals.
It specifically called for 400 aged care beds to be made available in WA to ensure non-medical cases were not taking up hospital beds, a matter Health Minister Meredith Hammat said her government was working on with the federal government.
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The unions called for the expansion of public health options including access to primary care, virtual emergency departments, sexual assault and domestic violence services, extended-care paramedics and acute mental health supports.
They also called for clear, system-wide protocols around admission criteria, escalation procedures, and discharge processes, so patients receive consistent treatment across WA hospitals.
As the unions called for the government to ensure “immunisations remain a high priority in the community” to support preventative health measures, the WA government took the opportunity to announce needle free vaccinations for children would be made available in 2026.
Described as a gamechanger for public health, 130,000 doses of Flumist will be made available across WA next flu season, at a cost of $4.78 million.
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AMA (WA) President Dr Kyle Hoath said the association was advocating for a solutions-based approach and calling on the government to work with unions on achieving the outcomes put forward.
“We don’t want to be a broken record on ramping but neither do we want to keep breaking ramping records,” he said.
“For the sake of the WA community, and all healthcare workers, we need to reduce ramping drastically. We need to do it now.”
Naomi McCrae, Health Services Union WA State Secretary, added: “This plan puts forward Western Australia’s need for a health system that funds crucial allied health services across seven days.
“This would not only keep patients moving through hospitals, it would help address the ‘Monday surge’ that can displace urgent services needed in serious cases.”
Minister Hammat welcomed the plan and acknowledged it had been a “very difficult winter”.
“Some of the issues that they are raising are already things on our agenda,” she said.
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