On the right side of history
Dr Kyle Hoath
AMA (WA) President
You can make history for the right reasons; you can make it for the wrong reasons.
On 1 October outside Royal Perth Hospital, there was a bit of both. Never before had the leaders of the AMA (WA), the United Workers Union (UWU), the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) and the Health Services Union (HSU) gathered in this way. Unfortunately, it was because of yet another ambulance ramping record.
I, along with the UWU State Secretary Carolyn Smith, ANF State Secretary Romina Raschilla and HSU (WA) State Secretary Naomi McCrae, put on this unprecedented united front of health unions to demonstrate our resolve to start addressing ambulance ramping and prevent a repeat of this absolutely horrific winter, and even early spring, that our health system has been enduring.
I had the honour of starting our media conference.
“It’s a monumental day actually to be standing here with all four unions representing over 90,000 hospital workers. It’s been another record month of ramping – 7,200 hours; and quite frankly we can’t afford to do this again. We can’t have another winter like this.
“It’s been really encouraging to work with the entirety of our medical workforce to come to the Government today with some solutions. We don’t want to be on the record continually whinging about ramping. We want to work with government; we want to come up with a proactive plan; and so today we’ve launched collaboratively our Five-Point Plan to tackle ramping.”
“Together, on 1 October 2025, our health unions decided it was time to make our own history. Now let’s get on with the job of drastically addressing ambulance ramping.
Carolyn Smith spoke next.
“We need 400 more aged-care beds. This will take immense pressure off the system. People who are ready to be in residential aged care should not be in hospital. It fills a bed that should be used for critical care, but it’s also not a good environment for those older Western Australians. So we are calling on the Government to support 400 more aged care beds so that we can free up the system and end the ramping we’ve seen this winter.”
Romina Raschilla was next up.
“Listening to the entire workforce, the WA Government needs to pull every lever it has available to tackle the modern problems facing WA’s health. We need to ensure that every bed is available every day on every shift. This requires qualified nurses and midwives to care for the patients working alongside doctors, paramedics, health professionals and hospital support staff.
“For nurses and midwives, this means nurse-to-patient ratios. They are not just about working conditions; they are about patient outcomes, safety, dignity and recovery. Safe nurse-to-patient ratios are linked to reduced mortality, fewer adverse effects, shorter patient stays, and less burnout among staff.”
Naomi McCrae then stood up.
“We’re 24,000 people in public health and, as you can see, we’re united with the rest of the workforce. It’s an enormous team effort where every part of the system has to work together. And what we’re seeing is this endless pressure on our staff; it has to change.
“So we’ve got a really sensible plan. It’s considered, it’s measured, it’s affordable, and it’s implementable. So we want to see the Government actually do it. We particularly want to see the underutilisation of allied health fixed – and that means our pharmacy, diagnostics and imaging are fully staffed and fully funded to work over weekends.”
Together, our health unions decided it was time to make our own history. Now let’s get on with the job of drastically addressing ambulance ramping.