The WA branch of the Australian Medical Association has rejected suggestions that St John Ambulance is to blame for pressures on the state’s hospital systems.

A parliamentary inquiry will examine whether the state government should terminate its contract with the ambulance provider and take control of the service amid record ramping times.

AMA WA Vice President David McCoubrie told Liam Bartlett St John Ambulance isn’t the problem.

“We have got an overcrowding affecting our hospitals, and to point the finger at the ambulance service which conveys patients to our hospitals as being part of the route cause is just wrong,” he said.

“We keep breaking records and we have just notched up 3,527 hours for the first 22 days of June, this may well be the leading month of ramping ever experienced in WA this month.”

Opposition health spokesperson Libby Mettam claims the government is trying to pass the buck for failures in the healthcare system.

“St John Ambulance have been made the scapegoat,” she said.

“This is just a shameful deflection of blame and a diversion away from what the real issues in our health system are.”

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