Cairns residents left waiting hours for ambulances during ‘lights and sirens’ emergencies

Anguished Cairns residents are waiting hours for paramedics during emergencies as hospital demand and delays create the perfect storm. Read their stories here.

ANGUISHED Cairns residents are waiting hours for paramedics during emergencies as hospital wait times and delays create the perfect storm.

This comes after internal Queensland Ambulance Service documents revealed 20 people have died in 16 months as hospital workload and staffing force delays onto paramedics responding to emergencies statewide.

The delays are all too well known to Far North residents in dire need for paramedics — only to be waiting hours in some cases.

Queensland health minister Yvette D'Ath in front of the Cairns Hospital. Photo: Brendan Radke

In posts on social media, residents shared their experiences.

Peggy Wannem, from Pormpuraaw, said she waited 45 minutes for a first responder ambulance in Cairns and even longer for the actual ambulance to show.

“This is shocking and society is fine with this?” she said.

“The government has brought this crisis about and most think its fine … what's it going to take?”

In Edmonton, Maria Holt had the experience of calling triple-zero and the line ringing out.

“There was no answer and the call ended. Rang back and the nearest ambulance was headed towards Innisfail, turned back from approximately Deeral — around 35 to 40 minutes from our place in south Cairns,” she said.

“It was a lights and sirens emergency. We have a station three minutes drive away and another 15 minutes away and, in the opposite direction one approximately 20 minutes away. Yet we waited almost an hour for one.

Far North residents have been waiting hours for ambulances and paramedics who are bogged down from demand and hospital delays.

“It’s not their fault, they’re stretched to the limit but it’s quite scary how few there are to match the population.”

Meanwhile Cairns resident Pat Thorn claimed he nearly died after struggling to access emergency health care services.

“(The hospital) even sent me home when I caught an Uber there,” he said.

“Had I not of got there the day I did, I would be dead the doctor said.

“I waited five hours for an ambulance, they did call every hour though.

“The ambos are under too much pressure and have to refuse people who they don’t think are too sick.

“They have to make that call and the hospital has to send home people who should be there because they don’t have the beds or staff.

“I don’t blame the system I blame the lack of funding and the vaccination requirements.”

A Queensland Health spokesperson said the health system was facing “increased pressure”, driven by a growing ageing population, difficulty accessing aged, disability and primary care, declining private health cover and Covid-19.

Willow Barnes from Westcourt with her four month old Kylo who suffered a bump to his head had to wait three hours to be seen by a doctor at Cairns Hospital ED earlier this year. Picture: Andreas Nicola

“Queensland has experienced three Covid-19 peaks this year, which has also increased pressure on our health system with high numbers of hospitalisations as well as a large number of furloughed staff,” the spokesperson said.

“Critically, the timeliness of the response is managed to ensure the most urgent patients are seen first.”

In September, QAS recorded response times to code 1A incidents improved to 16.4 minutes for the 90th percentile and 8.8 minutes for the 50th percentile.

Category 1 patients are seen within two minutes of arriving at an emergency department.

“The record $23.6 billion investment in health and ambulance services in 2022-23 is investing in our people and hospitals to address immediate and long-term priorities,” the spokesperson said.

“This includes hiring an additional 9,475 frontline workers by 2024, building new and expanded hospitals which will create an extra 2,509 beds and redesigning and restructuring models of care to support our staff and ensure Queenslanders will continue to receive world-class health care.”

Originally published as Cairns residents left waiting hours for ambulances during ‘lights and sirens’ emergencies