Paramedics’ union says elderly man died after waiting seven hours for an ambulance

There are claims Tasmanians are being misled about staffing at ambulance stations after paramedics revealed a man died after waiting hours for an ambulance.

An elderly Tasmanian man who waited nearly seven hours for an ambulance had died by the time a crew arrived, the paramedics’ union say.

Ambulance Tasmania chief executive Joe Acker has offered his “sincere condolences to the family and friends of the patient who sadly passed away”.

“A review of the case has been commenced to examine all the circumstances of the incident, including operational activity at the time, call-taking, dispatch procedures, and other factors,” he said.

“Ambulance Tasmania has met with the family, and will continue to do so during the course of the review.”

Adam Gett from the Australian Paramedics Association Tasmania said the man from the North called an ambulance about 8.30pm but it did not arrive until after 3am the next morning.

“This indicates that this emergency service is failing in its service delivery,” Mr Gett said.

“This happened earlier this month and the man waited over seven hours which resulted in the crew finding the patient deceased upon arrival.

“In certain situations a welfare call is made and the case can be re-prioritised.

“Was a call made?”

The association says Tasmanians are being misled about staffing at ambulance stations including Sorell, Huonville and New Norfolk which will now be staffed by two paramedics instead of a volunteer and paramedic.

Death of a male mountain bike rider at the Meehan Range. Tasmania Police and Tasmanian Ambulance service in attendance. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

However, Premier and Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the government had employed an additional 243 full-time equivalent staff at Ambulance Tasmania since coming to government in March 2014.

“On top of this, we are investing in a further 11 paramedics for the Sorell and Huonville Stations,” he said.

“This investment will have a positive impact on response times and will lead to more ambulance crews being available to attend calls as they are received.”

Mr Gett said shifts were remaining unfilled regularly at night state wide and particularly at Dodges Ferry, Sorell, Huonville, New Norfolk and Kingston.

“In April alone there has been at least 25 incidences where a station has been unstaffed overnight,” he said.

“To be very clear swapping a volunteer out for a salaried paramedic does not change the number of ambulances being available to respond to medical emergencies and does not change the response time of an ambulance.

“Swapping a volunteer out for a salaried paramedic does NOT change the number of attending ‘crews’ but rather the composition of the crew.”

Health and Community Services Union secretary Tim Jacobson disagreed with the association’s assessment and said ambulance ramping at hospitals needed to be addressed.

“The sleeping issue is getting hospitals better equipped to deal with getting patients off stretchers as quickly as possible,” he said.

The association is campaigning for more than 200 more ambulance employees to provide additional crews to meet demand and for volunteer only stations to have salaried paramedics.

“One of the only ways to fix this is to increase the number of ambulances on road that carry stretchers,” Mr Gett said.

“There are volunteer-only stations where the volunteers are doing excessive hours – some more than double that of full-time salaried staff.

“It is unsafe and unacceptable.”

Mr Rockliff said the government had commissioned a review of ambulance service demand to “help guide future investment into this critical sector” and was getting 30 new ambulances.