The Liberal National Party has described the woman’s death as “absolutely shocking”.

The Queensland Ambulance Service is investigating the incident, in which paramedics arrived at a call-out to find a woman dead at Kelso in the southern suburbs of Townsville on Saturday.

Liberal National Party MP Dale Last said the tragedy showed how bad ambulance ramping had become across Queensland.

“The incident that occurred here in Townsville on the weekend was absolutely shocking,” he said.

“When you dial triple zero in an emergency situation, it’s not unreasonable to expect a prompt response.”

The Burdekin MP said waiting a reported two-and-a-half hours for an ambulance was just “not good enough”.

He called on the government to take immediate action to fix the issue.

“This crisis that’s unfolding in Queensland that’s been going on now for 12 months needs to be addressed … and the buck stops with the minister,” he said.

A representative of Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said she would not be commenting on the case while it is being investigated.

The QAS has reported the woman’s death to police and launched its own internal probe into the incident.

“Firstly, the Queensland Ambulance Service’s thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends of this person,” a QAS spokesman said in a statement to AAP on Thursday.

“We can confirm that the QAS attended a case on Saturday where a female patient was declared deceased. The QAS is currently undertaking a detailed review of the case.

“Once complete, this report will be provided to the state coroner, in keeping with long standing QAS organisational practice.”