Ambulance ramping has reached its most dangerous levels in years, with new data showing escalating delays are putting lives at risk and crippling emergency departments across the country.
The federal AMA’s latest Ambulance Ramping Report Card shows record demand, worsening handover delays, and a system struggling to keep pace, with more than 2.4 million Australians arriving at emergency departments by ambulance in 2024‒25.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said the findings painted a stark picture of a system under extreme strain, with reports of people dying while waiting for an ambulance or while ramped outside hospitals.
“Ambulance ramping is not an occasional pressure point — it’s a daily reality and a symptom of the logjam in our public hospitals that is putting patients, paramedics and clinicians in harm’s way,” Dr McMullen said.
“People are deteriorating, and in some cases dying, before they can even reach a hospital bed. That is unacceptable in a country with a world-class health system. Our frontline teams are doing everything humanly possible; it’s the system around them that is breaking down.
“It is a sad reality that governments around the country have become desensitised to the harmful impact of ambulance ramping on patients and hospital staff, essentially normalising it through years of neglect and underfunding of our health system.”
Ambulance callouts hit a record high in 2024–25, and more than half now result in a hospital presentation, intensifying pressure on overstretched emergency departments. Despite a minor improvement in performance in 2024–25, the longer-term decline since the COVID‑19 pandemic continues to drive delays and compromise patient care.
Across Australia, ambulances are spending significantly more time ramped outside hospitals than they were five years ago. This reduces the availability of ambulances to respond to other emergencies and contributes to dangerous delays in treatment.
Dr McMullen said the impact on frontline staff was equally severe. “Doctors, nurses and paramedics are increasingly forced to deliver care in overcrowded, high-pressure environments that fall well short of what they know patients deserve — often without appropriate space, resources, or staffing.
“Treating patients in corridors, managing prolonged handovers, and juggling unsafe workloads undermines clinical decision-making and places doctors in morally distressing situations. Over time, these conditions contribute to profound fatigue, burnout, and declining morale, driving experienced clinicians away from emergency medicine and the public system altogether.”
Dr McMullen said governments must tackle access block head-on by expanding hospital capacity, improving patient flow, and investing in the health workforce. “These reforms are essential to prevent further harm, restore confidence in the system and ensure ambulances are available when people need them,” she said.
“Governments must act now to reduce ramping, free up beds, and restore timely, high-quality care across the country. Every Australian deserves to know that when they call for help, the system will be there for them.”
Read the Ambulance Ramping Report Card .
