A Brisbane woman in agony after snapping both her ankles was stretched off to hospital in a 4WD after a 90 minute wait.

A Brisbane retired nurse was forced to wait more than 90 minutes after shattering both her ankles in a fall, despite being just 1000 metres from an ambulance station and 10 minutes from a major hospital.

Mrs Patty was driven to the Wesley Hospital, Brisbane, in the back of a 4WD after a 90-minute wait for an ambulance. Pic Mark Cranitch.

A Brisbane woman who shattered both her ankles had to wait more than 90 minutes for emergency responders, despite being just 1000 metres from an ambulance station and 10 minutes from a major hospital.

Retired nurse Koula Patty, 68, fell down, snapping both her ankles, in the backyard of her Chapel Hill home on October 4.

Mrs Patty’s husband, Victor, rushed to her aid and dialled triple-0 at 6.50pm, but decided to take matters into his own hands after waiting 90 minutes for an ambulance

Mr Patty and his two sons crafted a makeshift stretcher from an army hammock before taking her on the 10-minute drive to The Wesley Hospital in the back of a 4WD.

“They jumped in and helped accommodate her, and then we had to bring her up around 10 to 15 steps as out house is built on a sloping block,” Mr Patty said.

“I thought politicians across the board were elected to serve the people. Not build stadiums and attract Olympic Games, we can’t afford that sort of activity.

“They should be building hospitals to look after the elderly, people are living longer.”

Mr Patty said emergency services workers should have better working and paying conditions in a bid to attract more staff to the job.

Mrs Patty has since received treatment and had screws put into one of her ankles and several broken bones repaired in the other.

Its understood Mrs Patty’s call was put through as two twisted ankles, with Queensland Health using the Australasian Triage Scale Category, sometimes referred to as “clinically recommended time frames”.

It is not understood what category Ms Patty was placed under.

According to the latest Queensland Health performance data, the average response time for a Median code 1A ambulance is 8.5 minutes.

In the 2023-24 financial year, on-time performance for Code 3 and Code 4 incidents – non-emergency and medically authorised incidents such as medical appointments and hospital transfers – achieved a combined 78.2 per cent, exceeding the target of 70.0 per cent.

A Queensland Ambulance services spokeswoman has said it was an extremely busy period of demand for services on Friday, October 4.

It is understood the service received hundreds more calls than during the same time a week earlier.

“This case was triaged appropriately, with oversight from a Clinical Hub senior paramedic working with a QAS specialist emergency physician,” a QAS spokeswoman said.

“The Queensland Ambulance Service triages to ensure life-threatening cases are responded to as a priority, and continue to improve response times to our most critical patients.”

Originally published as A Brisbane woman in agony after snapping both her ankles was stretched off to hospital in a 4WD after a 90 minute wait.