Almost 100 South Australians patients die waiting for delayed ambulances to arrive
Almost 100 South Australian patients in need of emergency and urgent care have died while waiting for delayed ambulances to arrive. Data released to the ABC under freedom of information laws shows another two patients died while waiting on a ramp outside an Adelaide hospital.
Category
đź“ş
TVTranscript
00:00 It was a slogan that won Labor the March 2022 SA election.
00:07 But almost halfway through the political term, people are still dying, waiting for delayed
00:12 ambulances.
00:13 SA Ambulance Service data shows 91 patients, triaged as priority 1 and 2 cases, died between
00:20 March 2022 and December of last year, while waiting for delayed ambulances to arrive.
00:26 Another two patients died while ramped outside Flinders Medical Centre.
00:30 "It's a tragic loss for families.
00:33 We absolutely feel for them, our hearts go out to them."
00:36 Paramedics aim to reach priority 1 emergency call-outs within 8 minutes, and urgent priority
00:42 2 cases within 16 minutes.
00:44 In 2022, one priority 1 patient in the Tea Tree Gully Council area died while waiting
00:50 18 minutes for paramedics to arrive.
00:53 Another priority 2 patient in Marion died the same year, while waiting 96 minutes for
00:59 an ambulance.
01:00 The Health Minister says the data doesn't show to what extent the delays impacted patients'
01:05 chances of survival.
01:07 "SA Ambulance have a method if there is an adverse event, if there is something that
01:11 happened that was incorrect or wrong, this is not that data."
01:16 The number of patients who've died while waiting for delayed ambulances has fluctuated over
01:21 the past six years.
01:23 Last year, 35 priority 1 and 2 patients died while waiting for delayed ambulances.
01:29 That's down from 68 in 2022, but higher than in previous years.
01:34 "As additional resources have been coming online, that we've been able to see a reduction
01:39 in adverse events, we've seen a reduction in those deaths overall."
01:43 "Any loss of life is an absolute tragedy, so we do need to see improvement because people's
01:49 lives ultimately depend on it."
01:50 Since the 2022 state election, response times to priority 1 and 2 ambulance call-outs have
01:56 improved.
01:57 But the number of hours lost to ramping has increased, reaching a record level in November.
02:02 "We are very proud of the improvements that we've had to date, recognising there is still
02:07 much more to do."
02:09 To ensure more lives aren't lost to the ramping crisis.
02:12 [BLANK_AUDIO]