An ageing population and migration are blamed for Queensland’s bed shortage and increasing ambulance numbers.

When Marilyn Anstiss fell at home a few months ago, she injured her back so badly that she was confined to bed and unable to move.

Her husband Edwin said he called Triple-0 three times for help but was told there was no ambulance available.

“It was an absolute disaster as we had to wait eight hours for an ambulance for Marilyn,” said Mr Anstiss.

“I felt like I was caught between a rock and a hard place. If I could have gotten her in my car, I could have taken her with me.

“I just felt helpless.”

The couple live in a seniors’ community in the Queensland coastal town of Bargara, in the Bundaberg region, 400 kilometres north of Brisbane.

By the time Mrs Anstiss arrived at the hospital late that evening, she said she was left outside in the ambulance until early the next morning, when she was examined, given painkillers and sent home.

Last financial year, Ms Anstiss was among the 40.3 percent of patients who had to lie on an ambulance stretcher for more than 30 minutes before being admitted to hospital.

Ambulance ramp-up – the delay in transferring patients to hospital beds – is not only a problem in overcrowded emergency departments in major cities, but across the rest of Queensland.

The growing and ageing population is blamed for putting further strain on a health care system already under enormous pressure.

Nick Yim, president of the Australian Medical Association in Queensland, said public hospitals were overstretched and struggling with unavailable beds, creating a flow-on effect.

“We need to ensure that patients can flow smoothly through our healthcare system,” said Dr. Yim.

Rammed for hours

Queensland Health aims for an ambulance transfer time of 90 per cent of patients off the stretcher, which is 30 minutes. This time is known as the Patient Off-Brancher Time.

Last budget year, only 59.7 percent of patients were transferred to a hospital bed within half an hour, according to data from the 2024-2025 budget.

Waiting times varied across the 26 Queensland hospitals that reported cases. In response to a parliamentary question in June, the Health Minister said waiting times were among the longest.

These include 7.8 hours in Logan in February, 7.7 hours in Ipswich and 7 hours in the Mater adult hospitals in Brisbane in March.

In regional Queensland, wait times in March were 4.9 hours in Toowoomba, 4.6 hours in Mackay and 4.25 hours on the Gold Coast.

According to Dr Yim, additional funding and financial incentives are needed to recruit staff to Queensland to ease the pressure on the current workforce.

“This includes funding for experienced doctors and nurses in the ED, perhaps rapid access services, rapid assessment units and possibly extending opening hours for X-rays or CT scans to ease transitions within the hospital and therefore improve bed capacity,” he said.

Elections approaching

Part of the Queensland Government’s strategy to relieve pressure on major hospitals is to open satellite hospitals.

Seven new facilities have been built in south-east Queensland, treating 100,000 patients since August 2023.

The re-elected Miles Labor government has pledged $78 million to open two more, in Hervey Bay and Rockhampton.

The 2024-25 state budget earmarks more than $1 billion to grow the frontline workforce, but Health Minister Shannon Fentiman acknowledged more needs to be done.

“We are committed to improving health care in our state because we want Queenslanders to have access to the world-class services they deserve, regardless of what they earn or where they live,” she said.

“Despite increasing demand from multiple pressure points, our world-class health system continues to demonstrate incredible resilience, led by our amazing health heroes.”

There doesn’t seem to be any sign of that pressure abating.

More than 592,000 people attended emergency departments in Queensland in the second quarter, an increase of more than 8,000 compared to the same period last year, according to the state government.

The number of seriously ill patients in categories 1 and 2 increased by eight percent in the same period.

According to Elin Charles-Edwards, associate professor of human geography at the University of Queensland, high internal migration was partly to blame.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the state’s population grew by 2.16 percent in 2023.

But it is also an ageing population.

“We are dealing with an ageing wave, but we are now at a decisive stage where we are really starting to feel its effects on the ground.”

It prompted the head of one of Australia’s busiest emergency departments to call for separate hospitals for older patients to ease a shortage of beds and ambulance deployments.

‘Immense tension’

With state elections looming, Labor said it was committed to improving health care.

But LNP public health spokesman Ros Bates said the “huge pressures” on the system were clear and a new plan was needed.

“That starts with more resources, better triage, releasing data in real time and re-directing doctors and nurses to improve patient care,” Ms Bates said.

Marilyn and Edward Anstiss are still shaken by their rampage experience in April and worry about what might happen the next time they have to call an ambulance.

“We have no confidence that the ambulances will be able to get there quickly,” said Ms Anstiss.