Ramping of ambulances outside major hospitals did not occur when I started as a medical intern in Queensland in 1976. Times have changed and ramping is everywhere. We have seen with COVID-19 that diseases, treatments and responses to health crises evolve. What is right one day is wrong the next. Health economics is the same. What was true for the health sector in the 1990s is not true now. Our large teaching and university hospitals in Queensland were pulled down in the 1990s and replaced with buildings that have half the bed capacity. In the 1970s and 80s, people stayed in hospital for three to five days for simple operations but procedures were quickly becoming safer and faster. The era of the day procedure was dawning and hospital stays shortened.