Paramedics and emergency doctors say ramping at NSW hospitals is putting patients at risk, leaving communities vulnerable and destroying morale.

Hearing told ambulance ramping ‘at its worst’ as emergency departments come under ‘incredible pressure’

Blocked access and overcrowding has left NSW hospital emergency departments under "incredible pressure", with some patients waiting up to 36 hours to be admitted, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.

A record number of people in NSW are waiting longer than clinically recommended for elective surgery, as surgeons trial shorter hospital stays for some procedures.

Frontline health workers in New South Wales want an urgent boost to hospital capacity, with new data showing tens of thousands of patients left emergency departments without receiving or completing treatment in recent months.

Emergency doctors and nurses are alarmed by a huge increase in people walking out of NSW’s hospitals without finishing treatment, as ambulance delays and beds filled with people unable to be discharged leave sick patients facing record waiting times.

Australia’s emergency medicine college is pushing for around-the-clock specialist security guards to be stationed at every Victorian emergency department, as doctors warn of unprecedented levels of violence in hospitals.

The Perrottet and Andrews governments have heralded a “new era” of collaboration across states and political parties, announcing they will each open 25 urgent care clinics to ease demand on emergency departments.

The NSW and Victorian premiers will push Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to extend pandemic leave payments for workers forced to stay home with COVID-19 if national cabinet decides to keep mandatory isolation rules on Wednesday.

The President of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine has backed plans to strengthen primary care.

Some doctors say the country's primary healthcare system is broken and too many patients are either falling through the cracks or clogging up the hospitals.

Emergency department doctors contending with rising numbers of deteriorating patients are backing GPs calling for a radical overhaul of Australia’s healthcare system, warning that it is no longer fit for purpose.

Statistics show more Australians than ever are going to emergency departments for medical care. Doctors and nurses say EDs are under unprecedented strain because of problems in other parts of the health system. They want comprehensive reform of the health system so they can give patients the care they deserve

The death of a woman who spent nine hours waiting to be admitted to a Tasmanian emergency department has highlighted dire staffing and resourcing issues across Australian hospitals.

As political leaders continue to resist calls to mandate masks amid surging COVID cases, health experts say our best defence against the virus is being under-utilised.

Hospital and aged care operators are desperate for staff as the wave of COVID infections from the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants sends thousands of workers into isolation, while the nurses union warns that staff are at breaking point.

Australia’s three most populous states are facing shortfalls of more than 6,500 hospital and healthcare staff as the nation’s health system braces for Covid hospitalisations to rise to more than 5,000 cases a day.

Australia has almost hit 90,000 flu cases this year, and last month set a new monthly record for influenza, doubling the previous monthly record. President of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine Dr Clare Skinner says the health system is under strain, and many health workers themselves are also sick.

A senior nurse working in a critical role at one of Sydney’s biggest hospitals despairs at the tidal wave of patients flooding emergency every day.

Victorians have been forced to wait more than eight hours for medical care in busy and overwhelmed emergency departments across the state.