Photo: ST JOHN NZ
An Hato Hone St John staff member is now onsite at Waikato Hospital every weekday as they work to reduce the time arriving patients have to wait in an ambulance.
On 31 July, Hato Hone St John recorded its highest ever ramping hours at Waikato Hospital.
Ramping is when ambulance staff spend more than 30 minutes handing over the care of a patient to a hospital.
Te Whatu Ora interim group director Operations of Hospital and Specialist Services for Waikato, Michelle Sutherland, said there has been a joint effort by Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand and Hato Hone St John to improve patient flow and reduce ramping.
"A Hato Hone St John staff member is onsite Monday to Friday to support ambulance staff as they arrive, monitor offloading, respond to any extended stays, and work with hospital staff to review patients for "fit to sit" (assessed as suitable to use our waiting room following triage)," she said.
Hato Hone St John general manager Ambulance Operations Stuart Cockburn said they were now seeing a downward trend in ambulance wait times.
However, data provided to RNZ from 8-16 October shows the average wait time was still 46 minutes and ramping occurred every day.
"On average, Hato Hone St John anticipates it will take 30 minutes from the time when an ambulance arrives at hospital until it 'clears' (or departs) the hospital and is available to respond to another incident. Any time spent in excess of 30 minutes is considered ramping," Cockburn said.
He said that while patients remain safe in the care of Hato Hone St John, it acknowledged any delay when handing over a patient to a hospital was not best practice for patients and their whānau.
"The safest outcome is for all patients to be transferred into the care of hospital staff as soon as possible. If an ambulance crew is waiting to transfer the care of a patient, it also keeps them from responding to the next emergency."
Sutherland said hospital was also working with Hato Hone St John to ensure inter-hospital transfers were limited to those who require tertiary level care at Waikato Hospital.
"Within the hospital we are constantly working on improvements to patient flow, which helps us to move people out of wards, freeing up beds for ED patients. Actions include improving the length of stay in wards, addressing barriers to safe discharge such as ensuring support is in place for people to safely return home," she said.
