SAVE WA’S EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS FROM COLLAPSE | AMA (WA)
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AMA WA ACTION AGENDA

FUNDING & RESOURCING

SAVE WA’S EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS FROM COLLAPSE

WHAT WE WANT

The WA Government to address the problems manifesting in WA’s emergency departments as a result of chronic hospital capacity shortages by:

  • Stopping rhetoric and spin designed to deflect from the real issues being acutely felt in WA’s EDs.
  • Opening all available beds immediately and employing more doctors and nurses to safely staff them.
  • Health Minister Roger Cook, Mental Health Minister Stephen Dawson, Director-General Dr David Russell-Weisz attending an urgently convened AMA (WA) Emergency Care Summit, with other stakeholders invited including St John Ambulance, GP representatives and ED representatives from WA’s tertiary hospitals. High-level solutions and decisions must be well-informed, implementable and made quickly.

WHY WE WANT IT

The avoidable death of even one Western Australian in an ED is tragic and unacceptable. If the current ramping crisis is allowed to continue, more people will experience protracted waiting times, avoidable declines in health and death, while waiting for emergency care.
Obfuscation measures and policies that equate to ambulances being told to ‘dump and run’ or ‘ramping bans’ are dangerous and place more pressure on our ED workforce. It is imperative that such policies are not entertained, much less implemented – they should be denounced by health leaders.

WHEN IT’S DONE

Significant and safe reductions in ambulance ramping, resulting in safer emergency care experiences for Western Australians and a safer working environment for WA’s ED workforce.