SA ambulance ramping surges to third-highest level on record as government 'falls desperately short' of its promise
South Australian patients spent 4,791 hours ramped in ambulances outside public hospitals in May — more than one thousand hours higher than the previous month — as the health system continues to struggle despite billions in extra funding.
Two days after releasing a state budget with $1.9 billion in additional money for health, the state government on Saturday published data revealing May was the third-worst month for ambulance ramping in SA since records began in July 2017.
The amount of time ambulances spent waiting outside public hospitals to discharge patients increased from 3,700 hours in April to 4,791 in May.
The result is roughly in line with the 4,773 hours recorded in May 2024, which preceded a winter surge that saw ramping reach record levels in June (5,539) and July (5,284) of that year.
Health Minister Chris Picton said public hospitals were under "significant pressure" last month.
"But we've got people stuck in hospital that don't need to be there because they're waiting for a federal aged-care bed."
There are 243 elderly patients in SA's public hospitals awaiting an aged care bed, according to the state government.
The Royal Adelaide Hospital recorded the biggest spike in ramping hours last month, jumping from 1,194 to 1,698 hours, while the Flinders Medical Centre also spiked from 1,021 to 1,318.
Ambulance response times to call-outs also worsened slightly in May.
The percentage of priority two call-outs met within the benchmark 16 minutes decreased from 67.7 per cent in April to 60 per cent in May.
Priority one call-outs — triaged for a response within eight minutes — stayed the same, with 72.3 per cent of calls met on time.
The Malinauskas government highlighted that the May 2025 response times are significantly improved on its early months in office — in May 2022, 54.9 per cent of priority one call-outs and 34.8 per cent of priority two call-outs were being met on time.
The head of South Australia's paramedics union said today's ramping figures have given him "grave concerns" about the winter months ahead.
Paul Ekkelboom, general secretary of the Ambulance Employees Association (AEA), said his members were also "very frustrated" with the situation.
"I get messages every day from regional and metropolitan crews about the extended … hospital ramp times they're having," he said.
Asked about the outlook for the next few months, Mr Ekkelboom said: "I've got some grave concerns, obviously."
He said the current ramping levels were only around 700 to 800 hours below last year's record numbers and "we've not even hit winter".
"If something's not done dramatically, then I think it's going to be even worse than what we saw last year, and that's detrimental to people in the community," he said.
The Malinauskas government has invested an additional $9 billion in the state's health system since coming to office in March 2022, according to the state budget papers released on Thursday.
Labor won the 2022 election with a core pledge to "fix the ramping crisis" through new spending on hospital beds, ambulances and staff.
Opposition health spokesperson Ashton Hurn said the government was falling "desperately short" of its promise.
"Labor are now three quarters of the way through their term in office and we're yet to see any green shoots when it comes to delivering on their number-one election promise which was to fix ramping," she said.
"We really need to move away … from looking at the statistics here and actually remember what this means for people.
"What this means is that sick South Australians are left stranded outside of our hospitals desperate to get in for the care that they need."
But the Health Minister said the government was "throwing the kitchen sink" at the problem.
"We are opening additional beds which has been called for for years and years and years.
"We're putting extra into mental health which has been called for for years and years and years, we've hired an additional, above attrition 2,800 extra doctors, nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals.
"But we've got a blockage at the other end of the system that is depriving us of that, so every bed that we're opening is pretty much being filled with an aged care resident that can't get into aged care."
Thursday's state budget revealed that demand on public health services is estimated to have grown by more than 4.5 per cent in 2024-25, with the government stumping up $1.7 billion over five years just to cope with increasing demand.
The state government says it is building and opening more than 330 new hospital beds across Adelaide in 2024 and 2025.
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