Most WA hospitals will no longer report the number of hours emergency patients wait in ambulances before admission, meaning a key measure of health system performance will be kept from public scrutiny. In July, St John Ambulance said ambulance ramping – which is when patients wait in ambulances in the care of paramedics before being seen by ED staff – was the worst they had seen. Ambulances ramped outside Royal Perth Hospital.Credit:File image This has proved to be an ongoing embarrassment for the state government. An internal Health Department memo obtained by WAtoday advised staff that as of today "the WA health system will cease reporting hours of ambulance ramping as a measure of Emergency Department (ED) performance". "[The] definition of ramping does not necessarily align with operational terminology used within hospital EDs, which can lead to confusion and inconsistent data capture," the memo said. "No other Australian states […]