Child, 3, with burns forced to wait 51 minutes for ambulance after 000 call

A family has endured a shocking 51-minute wait after calling an ambulance for their three-year-old child, who was burned with hot tea.

Premier Steven Marshall has apologised after a three-year-old burns victim was forced to wait almost an hour for an ambulance after his family made a triple-0 call around 5pm on Monday.

The ambulance union revealed the case on social media saying: “Ramping and under resourcing is depriving south Australians of lifesaving treatment when they need it most” while the Opposition described it as a “shocking case”.

Hot tea had been spilt on the child 15 minutes prior to the call being made from an Aldinga Beach home, but a crew did not arrive until 51 minutes later. It is understood the child spent 20 minutes in hospital before being discharged.

SA Ambulance Service had experienced an exceptionally busy day on Monday, and there are now 41 SAAS officers off with Covid infections and a further 53 who are close contacts are in isolation.

A SA Ambulance Service spokesman confirmed the call was received for a patient reporting burns from a hot drink on Monday.

“All paediatric cases are treated as significant and an emergency ambulance was dispatched while clinical advice was provided by phone,” he said.

“SAAS recognises the increasing demand for ambulance services at this time and actively triages all cases, responding to the most serious first. SAAS clinicians make difficult and patient-centred decisions based on patient needs each day and we’re proud of them.

“We continue to bolster our workforce and to implement our pandemic resilience plan to ensure we can respond to the community.

“This serves as a reminder, also, to ensure that where appropriate South Australians continue to seek alternative healthcare options for less serious conditions, so that we can be there for those who need help the most.”

Mr Marshall said health systems around the country and around the world were struggling.

“My thoughts are with the family who must have been very anxious – 51 minutes is a very long time and I apologise for that,” he said.

Mr Marshall noted Covid infections were putting further strain on SAAS but that extra resources are being put into SAAS.

“We are endeavouring to get to people as quickly as possible,” he said.

SA Health chief executive Dr Chris McGowan told a parliamentary committee on Monday ramping had fallen “significantly” in the last three months of 2021 — but Labor says it is still up 53 per cent on the same quarter in 2020.