Elderly woman dies in aged-care home after being made to wait an hour-and-a-half for ambulance

The ambulance union has made a list of 20 demands to fix the service, as the second death blamed on delays is revealed in as many days.

An elderly person has died in Adelaide after waiting 90 minutes for paramedics to arrive – the second death in just weeks – as the state’s ambulance union calls for 370 extra staff to ease ramping and reduce deadly delays.

The Ambulance Employees’ Association has revealed “unfathomable” details of a female aged-care resident, in her 80s, who experienced shortness of breath and nausea at a Grange nursing home.

Union secretary Leah Watkins said nursing home staff called triple-0 at 12.15am on Sunday, but the ambulance didn’t arrive until 1.45am. The resident’s condition rapidly deteriorated and she died shortly before paramedics arrived.

“They should have received an ambulance in 16 minutes, but instead they were left to wait an hour-and-a-half because there were no available ambulances to send,” Ms Watkins said.

“Sadly, and tragically, that patient passed away right as the crew were arriving.”

Ms Watkins said the case was “unfathomable and distressing”.

“It is completely unjustified in this day and age, in this state, in this country, that this kind of thing has been left to happen,” she said.

The ambulance union said the elderly woman died while waiting for paramedics to arrive. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

An SA Ambulance Service spokeswoman confirmed an internal investigation was underway and that the case had also been referred to the Coroner.

“SAAS is unable to comment with an internal investigation into the matter underway,” she said.

“SAAS will comply with any inquiry.”

The revelations come just a day after a separate case was exposed by the media – an 89-year-old great-grandfather who died after waiting five hours for an ambulance.

Ambulance union officials on Thursday released a 24-page document called “SA is Dying for More Ambos”, which included a list of 20 urgent resourcing demands.

Among the demands are 27 additional crews across the state, requiring the government to hire an extra 290 paramedics and 57 ambulance officers.

The demands are in addition to the 74 extra full-time paramedics already secured by the union in May.

Treasurer Rob Lucas said there was “no prospect” of hiring 370 extra ambulance staff.

“We’re recruiting up to 2000 health staff and providing 400 extra beds in the system,” Mr Lucas said.

He said that would “take pressure off our hardworking ambos”.

The union is also calling for the urgent construction of a new Emergency Operations Centre, which would involve hiring an extra 23 additional communications staff.

Another major demand in the document is a ramping policy that would make it mandatory for a patient to be transferred into hospital no later than 30 minutes after arriving in an ambulance.

Ms Watkins said the state’s ambulance service was “deteriorating”.

“The situation in the ambulance service just seems to be getting worse on a day-to-day basis,” she said.

“We know ambulance crews are routinely working 12 to 14 hours without a break; in that time patients are suffering and dying.”

Members of the Health Services Union will take strike action across nine major public SA hospitals on Friday, demanding “safer” staffing levels and eased workloads.

Allied health professionals will stop work for one hour at varying times at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Hampstead Rehabilitation centre, Repat Health Precinct, Flinders Medical Centre, Noarlunga Hospital, Modbury Hospital and Lyell McEwin Hospital.

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