The percentage of people left languishing on ambulance stretchers for more than 30 minutes before being admitted to Queensland public hospital emergency departments (ED) decreased in the December quarter.
The latest public hospital performance data for October, November and December shows 59 per cent of patients were transferred from an ambulance stretcher to an ED bed within half an hour.
That represents a three-percentage-point increase from the September quarter.
The improvement comes despite a 3 per cent increase in emergency department presentations to 573,205 in the December quarter compared to the previous three-month period (556,360).
Health Minister Yvette D'Ath told parliament there had been an easing in overall ED demand from the December quarter in 2021, when more than 640,000 patients attended the state's public hospital emergency departments.
But despite that, she said the number of patients in the most urgent category 1 to 3 ED presentations had all increased across the 12 months.
"Health systems across the globe are under pressure," Ms D'Ath said.
Queensland EDs cared for 4,565 of the most urgent category 1 patients in the December quarter 2022 – those deemed as having an immediately life-threatening condition.
That is a 12 per cent increase on the previous December quarter.
Despite an improvement in ambulance ramping during the latest reporting period, compared to the September quarter, Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said off-stretcher delays at EDs remained "at crisis levels".
"Queenslanders everywhere need to be able to rely on a health system that will be there in their time of need," he said.
"Queenslanders have seen the health system deteriorate under this government.
"The LNP team has put its solutions on the table to heal the Queensland health crisis including investing in more beds, steam-lining triaging, sharing data in real time and putting doctors and nurses back in charge.
"Queenslanders deserve better."
