Paramedics facing demand for answers

Authorities launched a review into “adverse incidents” stemming from paramedics ­deciding not to transport ­patients to hospital.

Health authorities in South Aust­ralia were so concerned about a spike in “adverse incid­ents” stemming from paramedics ­deciding not to transport ­patients to hospital they commissioned an external review to determine if there were common or systemic factors involved.

The SA Ambulance Service received the report yesterday but did not make its findings public.

The existence of the review, launched late last year following an unexplained increase in incidents, was unknown until The Australian revealed yesterday that a record number of paramedics were being investigated.

Sources said up to 20 paramedics were being investigated, but ambulance service chief executive David Place said that number had fallen to 12 after some cases were “not seen to be quite that serious”.

It is unclear how many incid­ents involved a death, although Mr Place said relevant cases were reported to the coroner. “If our people have made mistakes, we have to hold our hands up and look at why,” he said. “There is clearly no room for compla­cency in our business.”

He said there was no “direct correlation” between the incid­ents and “ramping” — a term used when an ambulance is parked outside a hospital ­because there are no free beds to treat a transported patient.

This is despite an internal memo to paramedics acknow­ledging that “system-based distractions such as ramping” had upped pressure on paramedics.

Ramping has been rife at the $2.4 billion Royal Adelaide ­Hospital since it opened in Septem­ber 2017.

Ambulance union boss Phil Palmer said his members were “being flogged” daily due to excessiv­e workload and a lack of available ambulances. “The whole ambulance service is under-resourced from one end of the state to the other, from one function to the other,” he said.

One paramedic predicted more adverse incidents if the service did not crack down on those who made poor decisions.

“There’s a lot of paramedics who do not follow the process that has been into place to ensure these things don’t happen,” the paramedic said.

“They’re now policing it but still no one has been fired. We haven’t heard of any disciplinary action, which I think is strange.”