Ramping the major reason for ambulance delay in case of man who died after waiting 10 hours for paramedics to arrive, review finds

The review was triggered when a 54-year-old Hectorville man died 10-hours after SA Ambulance deemed him a low priority.

Ramping was the major reason for the delayed ambulance response time in the case of a man who died after waiting 10 hours for paramedics to arrive, a review has found.

Eddie, 54, who was living in disability care at Hectorville, had abdominal pains and was initially classed as a low priority patient when a triple-0 call was made in December last year.

 After 10 hours, he was upgraded to Priority 1 and an ambulance arrived within four minutes of the final call but it was too late.

As well as ramping, which was labelled “the major contributing factor to the delay”, the review identified delays in the call-back process due to a high triple-0 call volume, and that Eddie’s risk profile had been “underappreciated”.

The Hectorville house where Eddie died in December last year. Picture: Ben Clark

The findings and seven recommendations were made as part of the review, which was released publicly on Friday.

The SA Ambulance System (SAAS) has committed to implementing all seven, including changes to help prioritise call-backs during periods of high demand and refining procedures to optimise internal ambulance capacity.

The review was conducted by SA chief medical officer Dr Michael Cusack and senior SAAS staff.

Health Minister Chris Picton said his death was “a tragedy that shocked the entire state”.

“We are committed to doing absolutely everything we can to improve ambulance response times and reduce ramping to help prevent such future tragedies,” he said.

SAAS chief executive Rob Elliott said any death that happened in SAAS care was a tragedy.

“These recommendations will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our internal safety nets for delayed responses when ambulances are not available, and I am committed to supporting these changes to improve patient safety and help prevent future tragedies,” he said.

Opposition leader David Speirs said he had been asked to speak on behalf of Eddie’s family, particularly his mother, aunt and uncle.

Opposition leader David Speirs at an earlier press conference with the aunt, Brenda, and uncle, Steve, of Eddie. Picture: Ben Clark

“The family are comforted that these recommendations have been made and while they wish, of course, that it hadn’t got to this stage … they are at least grateful that the review has happened,” he said.

“They are extremely hopeful that these recommendations will create a situation within our ambulance service where this will not happen again.”

Speaking as the opposition leader, he said the role of ramping in Eddie’s death was tragic.

“We can quite clearly make a conclusion that Eddie would probably still be with us today but for ambulance ramping in South Australia,” he said.

Data released earlier this month showed more than 82,000 hours have been lost to ramping since Labor was elected less than two years ago, as ambulances with emergency patients spent 3757 hours stuck in hospital car parks in February.

While this was 203 fewer hours than January, it was the sixth worst month on record and more than double the 1522 hours lost in February 2022 – the month before the last state election where “fixing” ramping was Labor’s core promise.