30 new ambulance patient transport vehicles ordered

The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) has ordered 30 new patient transport vehicles, worth more than $4 million on-the-road, to support services available for non-emergency patients across the State.

Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said the 30 patient transport vehicles were part of a 145 new ambulance vehicles to be bought by QAS this financial year.

“The 30 new patient transport vehicles, coupled with the 24 new vehicles in 2007-08, is major boost for patient transport services,” Mr Roberts said.

Mr Roberts said whereas the majority of cases attended to by QAS were urgent, QAS also provides transport for non-critical patients between hospitals and medical facilities and their homes.

“These non-emergencies are usually a patient who has a pre-arranged visit to a medical facility for ongoing treatment, or transfer of a patient from one medical facility to another for specialist treatment,” Mr Roberts said.

“The transport is authorised by a medical practitioner.”

Mr Roberts said a recommendation from the Ambulance Audit was to consider the contestability of patient transport, however it was not an immediate priority.

“I met with the Union a fortnight ago and I made it clear that contestability was not an immediate priority.

“I also reaffirmed my commitment to work with the Union when we consider that particular recommendation in the future. Any consideration of this recommendation would require detailed work to assess whether its implementation would support improved frontline service delivery.”

“The QAS’s continued commitment to non-urgent patient transport services is demonstrated by our $4 million investment in 30 new patient transport vehicles this financial year.”

“The Audit’s findings have been implemented without any forced redundancies. That is the Government’s commitment.”

When requesting an ambulance to a non-emergency, QAS schedules bookings. QAS Communications Staff will check that you have an authorised transport need.

While QAS will make every attempt to meet times for pre-arranged visits, an emergency call will always take precedence over a non-emergency call.

Non-emergencies are reported on 13 12 33, not Triple-Zero.