Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Leader
The Liberals are getting desperate, with their latest misinformation attempt about the true state of Tasmania’s ambulance ramping crisis.
In response to shocking new figures about long waiting times for ramped patients at the Royal Hobart Hospital, the government’s spokesperson said only patients with "transfer of care delays" longer than 15 minutes were included in the data. By definition, that’s the only group of people that would be recorded by these figures anyway.
A ramped patient is recorded as someone who arrives at hospital by ambulance, and has to wait more than 15 minutes to be admitted to hospital. This is the amount of time agreed as reasonable to cover transfer and triage.
The Liberals are essentially saying, ‘these figures about ramped patients are only about ramped patients’.
It’s clearly easier to comment on nothing, than address the fact waiting times for ramped patients have skyrocketed, and the subsequent greater risk of harm.
'Good news only' Health Minister Guy Barnett had nothing to say about the crisis at the Royal, but his spokesperson came to his defence saying that 60% of patients arriving by ambulance were not ramped. That's hardly something to be proud of, given it was comfortably above 90% only a few years ago.
As if the Liberal misinformation and spin wasn't bad enough, they also only reported the average statewide ramping figures of 40%. At the RHH it's far worse – with nearly half all ambulance arrivals now being ramped.
The only thing more desperate than the Liberals’ spin, is the state of emergency health in Tasmania. Tasmanians won’t buy it - they're sick of excuses and are right to be demanding action.