Players in pain enduring waits of 40 minutes and longer for medical treatment

Top End sport players with broken bones, spinal injuries and more are at times writhing on the field in pain for 40 minutes and longer waiting for medical help.

TOP End sport players with broken bones, spinal injuries and more are at times writhing on the field in pain for 40 minutes and longer waiting for medical help, an investigation has revealed.

The NT News has received multiple reports of ambulance crews taking a minimum of 40 minutes to arrive at call-outs for sporting injuries.

On July 30, ambulance crews took up to 90 minutes to get to Bagot Park where a Hellenic FC player suffered a back injury in a game against Mindil Aces FC.

He was reportedly not moving for a period of time.

On August 6, Northern Sharks NRL player Lavinia Norris was injured after a knee went into her back.

It took 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.

In the weeks prior an under-15s player suffered a spinal injury, with a minimum 40-minute wait, while a junior had a broken arm and waited for more than an hour for treatment.

Top End sport players, especially rugby, are reporting wait times of 40 minutes and longer for an ambulance when an injury occurs.

Clubs told the NT News attempts had been made to have a more consistent ambulance presence at games.

“This isn’t the league’s fault, they’ve tried to get an ambulance during games and the clubs have made the request,” said Northern Sharks vice-president Aaron Tilley.

“No one wants to see anyone, particularly juniors in pain and it would be much better if we had someone to administer pain relief on site.”

Darwin Brothers president John Adams said: “The league has been proactive in getting them to games full time but they’ve just not had the luck with other big events taking place.”

The need for a regular ambulance presence played out at the weekend when Nightcliff Dragons player Breanna Soares fell on her tailbone during a game against Darwin Sistaz at TRL Stadium.

While Soares had some feeling in her legs, she couldn’t move. An ambulance crew, stationed at the stadium because all senior NRL NT games were played at the location, attended to her immediately.

An NT paramedic, who did not want to be named, was unsurprised by the response times, saying ambos were overburdened by alcohol-fuelled cases and a lack of resources.

“This is the busiest I’ve ever seen it by a long shot,” they said. “Our workload is not sustainable … we don’t have the staff just to cover our shifts.”

They were aware of a recent sporting incident where an athlete with a dislocated knee was waiting for an ambulance for at least two hours, describing the patient’s wait and the other injuries as “cruel”.

“Someone in significant pain, laying on the ground for maybe two hours with no relief – that is wrong,” they said.

MORE TOP NEWS

Concerns Govt may change tourism voucher scheme

St John NT director ambulance services Andrew Thomas defended the organisation’s triage process.

“Every call St John NT receives through the triple-0 (000) call centre is carefully triaged to ensure that patients receive the correct treatment and response for their level of injury or illness,” he said.

“Unfortunately St John NT was delayed in responding to a call at Bagot Park on Friday evening due to this being a peak period of demand.

“On Friday we attended 116 cases in the Darwin area, approximately 10 per cent more than the normal average.”

Mr Thomas said the rugby cases relating to August 6 and the under-15s player were responded to within appropriate time frames.