Ambo never arrived as elderly couple waited for hours

An elderly couple have shared their frightening experience after they gave up waiting for an ambulance at their Goolwa home.

An elderly Goolwa couple has told of the horrifying sequence of events that ensued after they called for an ambulance and were left waiting for hours.

Alfred “Ed” Jackson and his wife Doreen “Dee”, both aged 90, live near an ambulance station.

So when Mr Jackson called triple-0 he expected emergency services to arrive in “minutes” like usual.

Instead the couple gave up waiting and cancelled the ambulance request, leaving Mrs Jackson with long term consequences after it was discovered she had two bleeds on the brain – that went undiagnosed for almost two weeks.

Their story comes as elective surgery lists blow out, and new documents on ramping reveal tensions rising as ambulance officers and ED clinicians try to do their best for patients amid clashes over priorities.

Dee and Ed Jackson of Goolwa waited hours for an ambulance before giving up. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Mrs Jackson, who has non Hodgkin's lymphoma and suffers side effects of chemotherapy, went to bed feeling nausea with stomach pains, which developed into severe vomiting.

Mr Jackson made the emergency call at 10am on August 7.

“She’s still suffering from the effects of chemo and on this particular day, she was quite nauseous, she had (a) headache,” he said.

“And she went back to bed and she started throwing up.

“I don’t remember if they gave us any indication of a delay at the time.

“We’ve usually had a pretty good service from them.”

An hour after raising the alarm their landline phone rang and Mr Jackson rushed inside to pick it up but tripped on a step and plummeted head first into a glass table.

As his ill wife tried to help she stumbled and hit her head “quite badly” as she landed on the floor.

“We didn’t get to answer the phone with all the going on,” Mr Jackson said.

A neighbour rushed to their aid after hearing the chaos coming from the home.

“I and the neighbour went to help Dee (Ms Jackson) back on the bed and then the mobile phone rang and it was the ambulance service,” Mr Jackson said.

“They couldn’t tell us how long it was going to be before an ambulance would come.

“They guessed probably about 45 minutes so we carried on waiting.

“She had problems in the bathroom again and hit her head on the handle.”

Another hour passed and with the ambulance unable to provide an estimated time of arrival and Mrs Jackson starting to feel better they gave up and cancelled the request.

“In hindsight, it would have been better to have kept on waiting because Dee would have gone to hospital, and would have had a scan probably and discovered what the problem was,” he said.

Mrs Jackson started to feel better and cancelled the ambulance request, which led to some long term health consequences. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Ten days after the ordeal Mrs Jackson visited her doctor and was immediately sent for a brain scan which revealed two bleeds on the brain.

“When she went to have the brain scan, the doctor there said she might have had the bleed on the brain initially, which made her vomit,” her husband said.

“Just the other day, she went to the doctor again and he claimed that she had scarring on her frontal lobe which is affecting her behaviour and emotions.

“She has suffered from a change of character.

“She reacts in different ways now, she’s quite emotional, she forgets words.

“She’s not as bright and normal as she was before (and) she’s still disorientated.”

The couple have voiced their concerns to their local MP and want the union to advocate for future patients.

“If they’ve got cause for concern, they should complain now as they used to,” Mr Jackson said.

A government spokesperson said they were investing in ambulance services across the South Coast community, with an additional 24 paramedics for the Fleurieu region - with 12 commencing in Victor Harbor in November 2024 and 12 commencing in Goolwa in November 2025.

“We’re also building a brand new ambulance station at Victor Harbor, to replace the existing ageing one, and we are upgrading the Goolwa station to make sure we have the capacity for these new paramedics.”

An SA Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) can confirm it received a Triple Zero (000) call on the 8th of August for a patient in Goolwa experiencing abdominal pain. The initial call was received at 12:18pm, and correctly triaged as a Priority 5 based on the information provided.”

“The caller opted to cancel the ambulance request at 2:11pm, indicating that the reported pain had subsided.

“While every attempt is made to ensure patients experience a quick response, SAAS always prioritises life-threatening emergencies. Unfortunately, at the time of this call SAAS had to redirect its resources to more urgent patients in the community.

“While challenging, we appreciate the understanding of the community in recognising the importance of prioritised care during critical situations.”