Nearly half of all triple-zero calls for an ambulance do not require an emergency response, staff say, as an expanded team of operators moves into new offices on Brisbane’s northside.
About 3800 calls are made to Triple Zero each day, with about 1800 diverted to the Queensland Ambulance Service Clinical Hub, housed at the Emergency Services Complex in Kedron.
The upgrade of the hub, which will be unveiled by the Queensland government on Tuesday, more than doubles its capacity, amid a push to prevent unnecessary hospital trips and ease pressure on crowded emergency departments.
The initiative launched in 2020 to help hospitals and first responders deal with the influx of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It provided care or advice to more than 33,000 Queenslanders between July and December last year.
Director Sam Herring said it was initially staffed by a small team working just 16 hours a day.
It now employs more than 140 staff, including senior paramedics, doctors, nurses, mental health clinicians and allied health staff, and offers around-the-clock care to patients across the state.
The QAS said it received a Triple Zero call every 24 seconds – adding up to more than 335,000 calls in the last three months of last year.
Herring said those that do not need an ambulance can be helped by the clinical hub or another referral service instead.
“[Our team] might undertake further investigation, [for example a] video or telehealth over the phone, to ascertain more about what’s going on for the patient,” she said.
“Sometimes the emergency department is not the best, or most timely, place to present … and maybe we can get better care for people that’s more tailored to them in a way that already exists in community.”
Recent analysis of public hospital performance data found a 4.5 per cent increase in demand for emergency department services across the state in the past five years.
While the number of emergency presentations had steadied, less than half of patients were treated in under four hours.
This affected ambulance ramping rates, with 41 per cent of patients ramped for longer than the recommended time in 26 of the state’s public hospitals.
On Sunday, the Crisafulli government released new figures to claim ramping had reached a five-year low in the last quarter of 2025, though it was still behind a target of 30 per cent.
The director of integrated multidisciplinary care programs, Sandra Garner, said the hub at Kedron was about “providing the right care at the right time”.
“If we understand a person’s needs really thoroughly, we can navigate them to oftentimes more appropriate care,” she said.
The hub’s expansion, which cost $8.31 million, was completed this week. Herring said the milestone showed how essential the service has become.
“It went from a one size fits all approach – if I call triple zero, I get two people in a vehicle on my front door. A lot of the time that will still occur, but [now we look at] what the patient actually needs.”
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.