QUEENSLAND paramedics were called out to 164,749 serious incidents in the Metro South Local Ambulance Service Network area over the past 12 months.
These figures reveal an extra 6671 serious call outs over the 2016-17 financial year in the district covering suburbs like Beaudesert, Jimboomba, Cleveland and Logan, stretching as far north as Moreton Island.
This is an increase of 4.22 per cent in the Metro South LASN since the 2016-17 financial year.
Psychiatric and abnormal behaviour call outs were up 10.92 per cent, chest pain incidents rose 5.33 per cent and falling cases increased marginally by 0.88 per cent.
Traffic accident call outs were down 3.19 per cent, snake bite incidents fell 2.86 per cent and child birth incidents dropped by 1.33 per cent.
Drowning call outs plummeted by 20 per cent, with 17 less incidents than 2016-17.
The Metro South statistics are consistent with the statewide trend, recording 802,222 serious call outs, representing a 4.55 per cent increase.
There were 1,080,192 Queensland Ambulance Service total call outs across Queensland in the past 12 months, an increase in demand of 3.86 per cent.
QAS commissioner Russell Bowles said paramedics had adapted to meet patient needs for the busiest year on record.
“The main contributing factor to the record demand is a growing and ageing population and we’ve reacted to that by diversifying our response options and using technology to increase efficiencies in patient turnaround time,” he said.
“With an ageing population, falls can be quite common in homes where elderly residents live alone, so we encourage family members or friends to try to proactively identify any dangers and install safety features for your loved ones.”
Mental health related call outs and chest pain issues were the most common cause for ambulance attention increasing 17.73 per cent and 5.09 per cent respectively across Queensland.
Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics travelled about 40,400,000 kilometres during the 2017-18 financial year.
