Ramping hours drop as peak body backs prevention measures
Ambulance ramping hours across two of Adelaide’s busiest hospitals have taken a dip in new data as the state’s peak medical body says it is time to “take a big swing” at addressing the causes.
Patients are spending less time on the ramp at Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN) hospitals, with Health Minister Blair Boyer attributing the improvement to a program launched in 2025.
Ramping hours from January to May at the Royal Adelaide Hospital have decreased by 26 per cent compared to the same period last year. There was a total of 5193 ramping hours over the four months compared to 7023 in 2025.
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital has seen a 39 per cent reduction in ramping hours despite an increase of 9.2 per cent in the number of patients presenting to emergency departments. QEH hours decreased from 3655 to 2228.
Health Minister Blair Boyer said while the improvements to ramping hours were promising, he admitted there was still “more work to do”.
“What matters most is that patients are getting care sooner and spending less time waiting – these are real improvements people can feel,” Boyer said.
“These results show what can be achieved when we take a coordinated, system-wide approach and stay focused on improving patient outcomes every day.
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“We know how challenging ramping has been for patients, families and staff, so it’s encouraging to see tangible improvements that are making a real difference.”
The dip in ramping hours followed the introduction of the Safe and Connected model in 2025, which saw 3400 staff across the CALHN take part in more than 320 short meetings to track patient outcomes and identify emerging issues to take immediate action.
Australian Medical Association SA president associate professor Peter Subramaniam told InDaily the Safe and Connected model provided “good signs” for CAHLN, but that ramping remained a “system-wide crisis”.
“It’s early days, and we must also be cautious about overclaiming the link [of Safe and Connected] to the fall in ramping. What still matters is understanding what is causing the queue,” Subramaniam said.
“While we see improvements in ramping figures, the reality is that despite those improvements, we’re still seeing thousands of hours on the ramp.
“That’s the reason why commentary on ramping has to move on from just we’ve seen fewer hours on the ramp to how can we create sustainable structural changes.”
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A recent AMA Ambulance Ramping Report Card found that ramping hours across SA had more than tripled since 2019-2020, from 15,000 hours to 49,000 in 2024-25.
The report card found ambulance ramping was “a significant and growing challenge directly affecting the safety and wellbeing of patients, paramedics, and the broader health system”.
SA Health data released earlier this year showed a total of 3750 hours ramped in March and 3616 in February across all major hospitals in the state, a decrease from the same time period in 2025.
Mental health presentations across the CALHN have steadily increased since 2022, with 2391 at the RAH and 1428 at QEH this year alone.
Subramaniam said understanding the primary causes of ramping and what can be done to improve local community services was the main priority.
“Ramping is not an easy problem to solve, but we need to start trying to take big swings at the things that cause ramping,” Subramaniam said.
“We know that the issues with aged care don’t disappear because CAHLN improves its ramping numbers. We know that the issue of access to GP care in places, including regional SA, doesn’t improve because CAHLN’s ramping figures have improved.
“This data that is published shows us there’s an increase in mental health presentations, which is precisely the information that we believe helps us understand ramping and helps us invest in the things that will make an impact on ramping.
“We’ve called on the Minister to consider a demand driver dashboard, which is where we can see who’s on the ramp, figure out why, and then invest in the right spots. I think this is precisely the sort of data that will help us do that.”
Shadow Health and Wellbeing Minister Jack Batty claimed that the government was “cherry-picking” statistics.
“We’ll look at the whole report card, and the report card shows that Labor has delivered 50 consecutive months of the worst ramping on record, despite being elected on a promise to fix it,” he said.
“We’ve consistently argued that you won’t solve ramping by focusing only on hospitals. You need a health system that helps people access timely care in community before they end up in an overcrowded emergency department.”
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