Elderly war veteran waits 90 mins for ambulance with broken pelvis

A 94-year-old war veteran suffering prostate cancer has been forced to wait an hour and 40 minutes for an ambulance, while in excruciating pain after breaking his pelvis.

Trevor Ryan told Tom Elliott last night he found his elderly Dad John, lying in bed, having fallen over the day before.

“He’d had a fall and hadn’t moved all day, he was in a lot of pain,” he said.

After calling an ambulance at 8.20pm, Trevor said one didn’t arrive until  an hour and 40 minutes later.

John was eventually taken to Footscray Hospital but was again forced to wait.

“There were 15 people in front of Dad, they had him on a trolley for four hours,” Trevor said.

“He didn’t see a doctor until 4.30am.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full details 

John suffered a broken pelvis and dangerously low blood pressure.

Trevor said though the paramedics were wonderful, it’s the system that needs to be improved.

“The system is wrong, tying up all those ambulances, it really is disgusting,” he said.

Executive Director of Operations with Ambulance Victoria Nick Stevenson told Tom Elliott the lengthy wait time wasn’t good enough.

“We’re extremely sorry that this has happened,” he said.

“We have performed way below par where we want to be.

“It’s unacceptable.”

Nick said sometimes ambulances are diverted to more serious patients, which causes long delays for others.

Click PLAY below to hear Ambulance Victoria’s response