In August 2026, 42 per cent of ambulance patients arriving at Queensland's 26 largest public emergency departments waited more than 30 minutes to be handed over to hospital staff, according to Queensland Health performance figures reported by ABC News.
The figure describes patient handover at hospitals, often called ambulance ramping. It is not a measure of how long every emergency caller waited for an ambulance. The statewide August rate was slightly below the 43.9 per cent recorded in August 2024, the ABC reported.
In an investigation published on 18 October, the ABC interviewed paramedics who described long handover delays that can keep crews at hospital instead of available for other calls. The report identified Cairns among several hospitals where the situation had worsened, but did not provide a Cairns-specific percentage in that account.
The Queensland Ambulance Service told the ABC that it recognised staff concerns amid rising demand and said response times for the most critically ill patients had improved over the past year. Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the government remained hopeful of reducing statewide ramping below 30 per cent before October 2028. The latest figures and definition can be checked on Queensland Health's performance site; read the ABC investigation.
Image disclosure: The accompanying hospital scene is an AI-generated editorial illustration. It does not depict Cairns Hospital, actual ambulances, patients or a specific incident.
