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Grandfather Robert Tancock identified as the victim of Saturday’s Sellicks Hill crash

A grandfather who had a medical episode and crashed his car at Sellicks Hill on Saturday has been identified but the ambo union chief claims the result could have been different without ramping.

Beloved grandfather Robert Tancock was killed in a crash at Sellicks Hill. Picture: 7NEWS
Beloved grandfather Robert Tancock was killed in a crash at Sellicks Hill. Picture: 7NEWS

A grandfather who had a medical episode and crashed his car at Sellicks Hill on Saturday has been identified as Robert Tancock.

Paramedics were called to Main South Rd, near the Nan Hai Pu Tuo Temple, after receiving reports of a single vehicle collision, which occurred about 10.15am.

Despite attempts to save Mr Tancock, a grandfather in his 70s, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Beloved grandfather Robert Tancock was killed in a crash at Sellicks Hill. Picture: Facebook
Beloved grandfather Robert Tancock was killed in a crash at Sellicks Hill. Picture: Facebook

It is believed the medical episode was the main cause of his death rather than the resulting minor collision.

Ambulance Employees Association general secretary Paul Ekkelboom said Mr Tancock could have potentially been saved if ambulance crews had been available to respond sooner – blaming the lack of available crews on the ongoing ramping situation.

“Time is valuable and every minute counts,” he said.

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When we don’t have crews sitting on station or actively free to respond then there’s going to be a delay to try and get our crew to respond to a patient,” he said.

“When they’re stuck on a ramp then obviously we can’t free them up to respond to the community.

“That’s the number one thing that’s affecting us with this health crisis at the moment with the ramping, the real effect.”

But Health Minister Chris Picton refuted Mr Ekkelboom’s claim saying ramping was not a factor in this case, based on the “very clear” advice he had received after a review into the incident.

The minister said the location of the accident was the main factor playing into the response time.

“As I said, the only potential ambulance station that could have been closer [unfortunately] that ambulance was out in the community helping somebody else at that time,” he said.

Beloved grandfather Robert Tancock was killed in a crash at Sellicks Hill. Picture: 7NEWS
Beloved grandfather Robert Tancock was killed in a crash at Sellicks Hill. Picture: 7NEWS

Mr Picton also quashed claims paramedics should have attended the scene within eight minutes given it was triaged as a priority one case - It is understood it took around 15 minutes.

However, Mr Picton pointed out those times were only realistically applicable to metropolitan areas rather than regional areas where the vast geographical distances made it unrealistic.

“I would love to get every patient as soon as possible,” he said.

“In this case, this was as soon as possible.”

Opposition spokeswoman for Health Ashton Hurn said South Australians were sick of the government’s failure to deliver on its clear promise to fix ramping at the last state election.

“This is more than just data released each month, it represents sick South Australians stuck outside of our hospitals, desperate to get in,” Hurn said.

“It also impacts our paramedics who have to endure being ramped for hours and hours.”

Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/grandfather-robert-tancock-identified-as-the-victim-of-saturdays-sellicks-hill-crash/news-story/063b255f00b6e18521d453473562d917