Hospital ramping has reached a record high in Western Australia, leading the state's Premier Roger Cook to lay the blame squarely at the feet of the Federal Government.
Data showing ambulances were ramped for a record 7,009 hours outside Western Australian hospitals in July prompted questions to Premier Cook about the treatment of an 84-year-old man who took a maxi taxi to hospital on 25 July after being told there was a 130-minute wait for an ambulance. The man then had to wait 11 hours at Fiona Stanley Hospital's emergency department before being placed in a police holding room.
The Premier said the blowout in ambulance ramping was “symptomatic” of problems across the country.
“We’re all challenged by this current arrangement," he said. "The way you could fix it, the way you could provide a national response is to ensure that the Commonwealth does more to fund aged care beds," he said.
"They need to do better on aged care. Today we have upward of 250 people sitting in our hospitals waiting for an aged care bed.”
NSW, SA and QLD similarly impacted
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has told The Daily Telegraph this week more than 1,600 aged care and NDIS patients were in NSW public hospitals in the last month alone, with 1,131 of them exceeding their estimated date of discharge.
As a result of delayed discharges, a massive 58,154 bed days were taken up across the system by patients awaiting Commonwealth government health sector assistance.
“The notion that patients waiting over seven weeks in a hospital bed longer than they need to be is deeply concerning, and to say it’s not good for patient outcomes is an understatement,” the Minister said.
“Long periods of immobility in hospital leads to deconditioning, loss of mobility and cognitive impairment."
A spokesperson for NSW Health has informed The Weekly SOURCE that, as of 30 July 2025, there were 829 patients in NSW public hospitals who had exceeded their estimated date of discharge while waiting for an aged care facility placement.
The situation is also dire in South Australia, where ambulances were ramped for 5,387 hours outside the state's hospitals in July, close to record highs, as 280 patients occupied beds waiting for an aged care placement (see graph below).
A spokesperson for Queensland Health also told The Weekly SOURCE that "Queensland’s hospital emergency departments are under significant pressure" driven in part by "an ageing population".
"Long-stay patients are an additional pressure on our health system, through no fault of their own. Unfortunately, most long-stay patients who are clinically fit for discharge are unable to leave because they are waiting for access to suitable aged care, NDIS or home supports, which are mostly funded by the Commonwealth," said the spokesperson.
