Trial to ease ramping may expand
Up to 20,000 ambulance patients could be diverted from Perth's busiest emergency departments every year if a plan by St John Ambulance to ease pressure on public hospitals and paramedic crews continues to expand.
In May, St John Ambulance began to divert low-acuity patients who risked causing ramping at Royal Perth Hospital or Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital to a 15-bed overflow unit set up at Hollywood Hospital.
In the four-month trial, 686 patients were treated between midday and 8pm at the ward, dubbed the ambulance surge capacity unit or ASCU. Of those patients, 283 were diverted from further treatment at emergency departments - either able to go home or admitted to a private hospital.
The concept was last week deemed the most innovative and groundbreaking initiative of any Australian and New Zealand ambulance service, winning the Star Award at the Council of Ambulance Authorities Australasian Awards for Excellence.
The trial's success has also been recognised by the State Government, which will provide a space at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital to run a longer trial.
The finer details of how the unit would operate were being finalised but were expected to include extended hours and the potential for all non-urgent patients to be filtered through the ward.
St John Ambulance chief executive Tony Ahern said when the organisation proposed the ASCU, its aim was to help move peaks in ramping but the focus was turning to how to develop further techniques for filtering patients.
He said St John transports about 60,000 low-acuity patients to Perth's four biggest emergency departments each year.
"If we had a way of increasing the capacity of the ASCU concept . . . there's the potential that anything up to 20,000 patients a year could be diverted away from ED and treated appropriately," Mr Ahern said.
Health Minister Kim Hames said the second trial would allow for further analysis on the effect the ASCU had on patient care.
