Paramedics under pressure: Record high ambulance arrivals at Wollongong ED

Illawarra paramedics have been hit with decade-high demand across the region and a record number of ambulance arrivals to Wollongong Hospital, a new report has revealed.

The Bureau of Health Information’s (BHI) quarterly report has highlighted a spike in ambulance calls and responses between October and December last year, with a flow-on impact putting additional pressure on local emergency departments.

During the three months, there were 7198 ambulance responses in Wollongong, the highest number reported since 2010.

Of those, 3623 were categorised as P1 Emergency, which are cases determined as the highest priority and potentially life-threatening which require immediate ambulance response under lights and siren, which was also the largest number of this response type in more than a decade.

There were 5276 responses in the Shellharbour-Kiama reporting area, which is the highest figure since BHI started reporting in 2010, of which 2537 were P1 Emergency.

Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District Executive Director Clinical Operations Margaret Martin said the demand was reflected at emergency departments across the district.

“There were also a record high number of arrivals by ambulance, with 13,206 arrivals during the quarter, which represented an increase of 5.4 per cent (or 674 arrivals) compared to the same quarter in 2023,” she said.

“Despite this high number of arrivals, more than 83 per cent of patients were transferred from ambulance to hospital staff within the 30-minute benchmark time,” Ms Martin said.

Wollongong Hospital’s emergency department made up more than half of those arrivals, recording 6936 patients arriving by ambulance, which was the highest on BHI records by almost 200.

Total emergency department arrivals were among the highest ever seen in the region, with many presenting with a high level of urgency.

“There were 5929 triage category 2 (emergency) presentations, a record high and an increase of 6.8 per cent (379 patients) compared to the same quarter in 2023,” Ms Martin said.

“Despite this unprecedented demand, the majority of patients (65.3 per cent) who attended our EDs started their treatment on time.”

Emergency T2 presentations, which includes patients with an imminently life-threatening condition such as serious chest pains, difficulty breathing or severe fractures, have continually trended upwards throughout the past decade with Urgent T3 presentations, which is people with a potentially life-threatening condition such as severe illness, bleeding heavily from cuts, major fractures or severe dehydration, also generally increasing over time.

The BHI showed that in the final quarter of 2024, not only were emergency and urgent presentations at record highs for the decade in the district, but also in individual hospitals.

Wollongong Hospital marked its second highest number of emergency presentations (3139) and Shellharbour recorded its highest number of urgent presentations (4116).

This was not replicated in the less urgent categories, with the figures showing the lowest number of non-urgent cases recorded at Wollongong Hospital (684) since June 2021.

Those figures may indicate that patients are visiting the region’s Urgent Care Centres (UCC), which aim to relieve the pressure on busy EDs by treating more minor ailments and injuries.

Figures provided to Region show there were about 3700 visits to the Wollongong Medicare UCC between October and December 2024 and a further 3500 visits to Dapto Medicare UCC.

The state-run Urgent Care Centre at Bulli Hospital had more than 3500 presentations during the period.

“ISLHD has a strong focus on ensuring people receive the right care in the right settings, which includes improving the use of virtual and community health initiatives; providing dedicated models of care for older patients; and promoting the use of urgent care services and healthdirect for minor illness and injury,” Ms Martin said.

“This has been further bolstered by the expansion of new virtual healthcare services in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven.

“The district is focused on enhancing access and flow within our EDs, through use of allied health ED navigator roles; rollout of discharge concierge positions; and the planned expansion of Wollongong Hospital’s emergency short stay area.”

The community is urged to phone healthdirect on 1800 022 222 for advice on non-threatening illnesses, where they can speak to a registered nurse who can assess their condition and advise them on further action.