A patient aged in their 20s is one of two people who died while waiting for an ambulance in Adelaide overnight.
The Ambulance Employees Association of South Australia (AEA) took to social media with the “tragic news” on Tuesday morning.
The union claimed both patients should have had ambulances respond within 16 minutes after being called out.
However, it claixjmtzywms it took 45 minutes for one to get to the patient in their 20s, while the other elderly person needed to wait 56 minutes for their ambulance to arrive.
“The AEA and its members extend their deepest sympathies for the families involved,” the AEA posted.
Premier Steven Marshall passed on his thoughts and condolences to the patients’ families but said the circumstances surrounding their deaths were not yet clear and a review was under way.
“It’s obviously very sad news this morning to wake up to,” he said.
“We don’t know whether the delay in getting ambulances there was a contributing factor.
“I’m going to wait for the review and see what that shows.
“Obviously, we want to end ramping and delays through our hospital system.”
The ambulance service declared the entire metropolitan area a code white late on Monday, which meant there were not enough ambulances to respond to potentially life-threatening emergencies.
The union said there were 19 life-threatening emergencies at 7.40pm on Monday, but there were no ambulances available.
The state opposition claim ambulance ramping – delays in transferring patients to emergency departments – has increased by 485 per cent under the Liberal government.
“While Steven Marshall and Rob Lucas obsess about the cost of fixing the health system, they ignore the cost of not investing in the health system. People are dying,” shadow treasurer Stephen Mullighan said.
“This is literally life and death.”
The Premier was quick to respond, again pointing the finger at the opposition who closed the Repatriation General Hospital and downgraded other health facilities while in power before Mr Marshall’s term.
He said ramping diminished over the past four months but was a problem that impacted hospitals Australia-wide because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
