An elderly patient waited in an ambulance outside Flinders Medical Centre for “over two hours” before he “died in the back of an ambulance”, according to the Ambulance Employees Association.
The union’s Phil Palmer spoke to FIVEAA’s Leon Byner on Monday following the death on Friday.
“We’ve spoken to the crew, we’ve spoken to people who were actually there… two hours and 10 minutes it was,” Mr Palmer said.
“An elderly patient ramped for that period of time became increasingly uncomfortable and anxious about his health status. One of the crew members went into the ED at about the two hour mark to see if they could get him in more quickly and by the time he came back the patient had died basically…
“Ramped for over two hours, deteriorated rapidly, should’ve been inside the hospital. Had that patient been inside the hospital much better chance of survival… where life was declared extinct is another matter but where the patient died was in the back of an ambulance, yes.”
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