RAMPING SHAME

REVEALED Hospital’s 10-hour waits

A PARAMEDIC has used his appearance under oath at an inquest to blow the whistle on the “ramping” crisis at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

Andrew Sculthorpe revealed in his evidence to the Coroners Court that he had endured delays at the hospital of up to 10 hours – and that it was “very common now” to also wait for hours with mental health patients before admission.

A HOBART paramedic has been “ramped” with hundreds of mental health patients awaiting admission to the Royal Hobart Hospital since mid-2016, sometimes for hours at a time, a court has heard.

An inquest into the death of Mornington man Joseph Lattimer, 37, who attempted to take his own life while waiting to be admitted to the hospital for psychiatric treatment, began in Hobart yesterday.

The Coroners Court heard Mr Lattimer died on July 21, 2016, 11 days after he was placed in an induced coma.

Paramedic Andrew Sculthorpe told the court he and a colleague took Mr Lattimer to the Royal Hobart Hospital early on July 10.

Mr Sculthorpe said Mr Lattimer wanted help, was compliant and was not showing signs of immediate harm to himself, and the paramedics left Mr Lattimer in the hospital’s care.

Mr Sculthorpe said that since very soon after Mr Lattimer’s death, paramedics have been required to wait with mental health patients until they are admitted, a practice known as ramping.

He said it was “very common now” for that to happen.

“There’d be one, two a shift, possibly. Sometimes none and sometimes you might get three or four in a row,” he said.

Mr Sculthorpe said that since the change, he had dealt with “hundreds” of such patients.

He said that before Mr Lattimer’s death, nursing staff at the hospital could ask paramedics to wait with a patient if there were concerns about the patient’s safety.

He said the change had improved mental health patients’ safety.

“I have been ramped with patients up to 10 hours. That might not be a mental health patient, that could be a medical patient, but mental health patients are there for a long time as well,” Mr Sculthorpe said.

“Sometimes they’re processed very quickly, other times you can be there for a long time … it can be hours.”

The scope of the inquest, which continues today, includes the procedures for dealing with mental health patients and future resourcing for the hospital’s mental health services.