Family called triple-0 four times before woman died at home in pain

Judith Hamilton’s devastated family are still waiting for answers on why an ambulance didn’t come until ten minutes after she died.

A woman who waited more than nine hours for an ambulance to come died in her sister’s arms ten minutes before a crew finally arrived.

Judith Hamilton’s devastated family says it’s been close to two months since they lost the 69-year-old and they still have no answers on why nobody came despite four calls being made to triple-0.

Ms Hamilton’s only daughter, Alyssa Broughton, said she did not want another Queensland family to be let down by the health system the way her beloved mum was.

Judith’s daughter Alyssa Broughton and sister Ruth Hopkins don’t want any other family to be let down by the health system like they were. Photo: Steve Pohlner

“From the morning from when I first arrived there, I got there just as the ambulance arrived, ten minutes after she passed, from that point when I realised her new doctor wouldn’t sign off on her cause of death and Ruthy (Ms Hamilton’s sister) told me she had been calling the ambulance for nine hours I was just astounded, “she said.

“I remember saying to the ambulance guy who was there, ‘what took you so long? what is going on?’ and he said ‘I myself wasn’t on shift when they got the first call nine hours ago’ and then he got down on his knees in the lounge room and said ‘please accept our sincere apology’ and held my hand.”

Ms Hamilton’s younger sister Ruth Hopkins was with her at her Mitchelton home the night she became seriously ill, first calling triple-0 around 2am on Saturday June 12.

Ms Hopkins called for an ambulance another three times, including after Ms Hamilton’s GP phoned around 9am to say test results indicated she may have sepsis – a life-threatening blood infection – and needed an ambulance to take her to hospital immediately.

Alyssa and Ruth share Judith’s story hoping no one else would have to endure such a heartbreaking incident. Picture: Steve Pohlner

The ambulance finally arrived at 11:30am, ten minutes after Ms Hamilton had passed.

Although Ms Broughton does not ever expect to completely heal from the loss of “the best mum you could ever ask for” she said not having any answers about why her mother was left to die in pain at home made it impossible to gain a sense of closure.

“It’s just not good enough, you rely on these services in your time of need and … just not having Queensland ambulance or the coroner be able to give any updates is really difficult,” she said.

“As time goes on your days are filled with more happiness and less sadness and you know I’m very thankful that I’ve got beautiful support around me with family and friends.”

Queensland Ambulance Service has completed an internal review of the case but said it was unable to share the result with the family without permission from the coroner.

Queensland Coroner’s Court told Ms Broughton it was unable to give her an update on its investigation until the results of the autopsy were received, which could take months.

Ms Hamilton had been released from Prince Charles Hospital a week earlier and was due to go into respite care at an aged care facility on Monday June 14.

Ms Hopkins said she felt powerless and angry as she waited with her sister who was in immense pain.

Ramping of Ambulances at the Royal Brisbane Womens Hospital. Pic Annette Dew

She said had she known an ambulance would never arrive she would have tried to get her to the hospital herself, however Ms Hamilton was unable to walk.

“Judy was unwell and quite frail but nobody expected her to die,” Ms Hopkins said.

“I just want to know why? Why didn’t they come? Was it something I said? Was it because Judy had called the ambulance so many times before? Why?.”

Ms Hopkins said she wanted Health Minister Yvette D’Ath to explain how this could happen.

“Ambulances we have called previously for Judy have said to us ‘if we take her in, she will just stay in the corridor for hours upon hours’,” she said.

“Nine and a half hours is absolutely unacceptable, that’s not an ambulance service.

“Recently politicians gave themselves a four per cent pay rise, well I don’t think that is acceptable when we can’t get an ambulance because there are not enough staff or beds at our hospitals to allow the paramedics to get back on the road.”

As bed-block issues continue to plague the state’s hospitals Queensland’s ramping crisis means almost 80 per cent of patients with the most life-threatening illnesses weren’t moved out of one of Queensland’s busiest emergency departments and into another ward within four hours.

Latest data also reveals ambulances continue to ramp with 41 per cent of patients having waited longer than they should with paramedics across Queensland during the June-quarter.

The most recent ambulance response times, July 2020 to March 2021, shows for 90 per cent of the most urgent calls – Code 1 – an ambulance arrives within 15.4 minutes.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath told The Courier-Mail the case would be investigated by QAS. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Ms D’Ath said she would like to offer her sincere condolences to the family and assured them the QAS would investigate.

Ms Hopkins filed an official complaint with QAS and a spokesman told The Courier-Mail it offered the family its condolences.

“The QAS has been in regular contact with the patient’s family since her death,” he said.

“The case has been investigated by the QAS, however as the matter is also under coronial investigation the QAS is unable to currently provide its own findings to the patient’s family.”