An elderly South Australian man has died after being forced to wait five hours for an ambulance to arrive at his nursing home.
The death occurred on July 10, during a month in which the gradual increase in working hours soared to a record 5,539 hours lost in South Australia, despite the state Labor government’s 2022 election promise to fix the worsening problem.
Ramping is what happens when ambulances are lined up in hospital emergency departments but are unable to unload patients because all the beds are occupied, meaning there are fewer vehicles available to care for other patients.
The call to pick up the elderly man was initially categorized as Priority 3 (a 30-minute response time), then upgraded to Priority 2, meaning an ambulance was expected to arrive within 16 minutes.
His case was then moved to the most urgent priority 1; he is expected to appear in court within eight minutes.
Although the nearest ambulance station was just over a kilometre away, by the time paramedics arrived after five hours, it was too late to save the man’s life.
The Ambulance Workers Association (AEA) said that on the same night the man died, other patients were hospitalised for 12, 11 and 9.5 hours.
AEA Secretary of State Leah Watkins said paramedics “feel like they’re playing Russian roulette” by being stuck in hospital parking lots treating patients.
An elderly South Australian man has died after waiting for an ambulance to arrive at his nursing home in an Adelaide suburb for five hours. File image
He said paramedics also hear unanswered emergency calls and wonder if the person will be dead by the time they get to them.
“Our members are deeply concerned that we will return to conditions similar to those that existed at the beginning of 2022: delays in emergency cases in the community and delays in admission of seriously ill patients to hospitals,” he said. Advertiser.
“It’s an absolute tragedy. That’s why we’re fighting so hard to get ambulances out of hospitals quickly.”
Health Minister Chris Picton offered his “deepest condolences” to the man’s family.
“This has been referred to the coroner and I will ensure that the South African Ambulance Service and the South African Health Service provide full cooperation to any forensic investigation,” he said in a statement.
Mr Picton added that the Government was “focused on improving ambulance response times” and said an increasing number of people in life-threatening situations were receiving an ambulance on time.
But Deputy Opposition Leader John Gardner disagreed, saying: “This is another tragic death that will shock many South Australians.”
Ambulance Employees Association state secretary Leah Watkins (pictured) said paramedics “feel like they’re playing Russian roulette” being stuck in hospital car parks treating patients.
‘Our health system is in crisis under the Labour government, a direct reflection of (Prime Minister) Peter Malinauskas’ failed promise to ‘fix’ the ramp-up of production.
‘In July, under the Labor government, 5,539 hours were lost due to production escalation – a grim record figure. Peter Malinauskas must take responsibility and ‘fix’ production escalation, as Labor promised before the state election, before we see more avoidable tragedies.’
The longest period for which a person was trapped in July was when an 83-year-old woman was trapped in the car park of the Royal Adelaide Hospital for 12.5 hours.
Mr Picton said the Labour government “recognises that there is still much more investment to be made to further improve response times”.
