The member requested the Auditor-General review the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS). The member asked us to consider the following points within the scope of our work:
- Rostering
- Data collection and dissemination
- Equipment
- Training.
We responded to the member on 21 May 2021 advising that after also considering the broader community concern we have added a new topic to the Forward work plan 2021–24 on delivering ambulance services in 2022–23. This audit will examine how effectively and efficiently Queensland Health is addressing root cause issues impacting on ambulance response times.
Status
Completed – in our Health 2021 report in parliament we analysed Queensland Health’s performance against ambulance response times, patient off-stretcher times (the percentage of patients transferred to the care of an emergency department within 30 minutes), and ambulance ‘lost’ time (the amount of time greater than 30 minutes that a patient remains on QAS stretchers). We also compared the demand for QAS’s services and its response times to that in other Australian jurisdictions.
Based on the findings of that report – which comment on the root causes affecting ambulance response times – we currently do not see value in conducting a detailed performance audit on ambulance services. We will, however, provide a further update in our Health 2022 report and will consider the impact of the Care4Qld Strategy announced in May 2021 in the assessment of the value of any future audit.
We will also consider QAS’s rostering practices as part of our annual financial statement audit of the Department of Health. If we identify any deficiencies in QAS’s internal controls around rostering of paramedics, we will report these to management. If we identify any significant deficiencies, we will include these in our Health 2022 report.