Ambulance failure: 94-year-old with broken pelvis forced to walk to patient transport

A 94-year-old South Yarra woman with a broken pelvis was forced to walk to a St John of God ambulance last week.

A neighbour called triple-0 and was advised there would be a 90-minute wait for an ambulance. When help finally arrived, it was a St John of God patient transport crew — who do not have pain medication or specialty mobility equipment for transporting patients — because no ambulances were available.

“They’d gone out to request a special mobility crew to take her because of her condition and they weren’t able to get that so we had to walk her out of the house in complete pain. It took her 40 minutes to walk from the back of the property to the front of the property,” neighbour Jamie McDonald told Neil Mitchell.

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An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson has since released the following statement:

Ambulance Victoria takes very seriously our commitment to providing best care for every patient.

Based on the information provided during the Triple Zero (000) call, it was appropriate to send a patient transport ambulance to assist. The call was assessed by expert clinicians in our secondary triage team.

The ambulance arrived just over one hour after the call.

After assessment, the attending patient transport officers contacted the AV clinician to discuss the patient’s condition and request additional support.

After discussions with the clinician, it was deemed appropriate and safe to transport the patient to hospital a short distance away, where she arrived in a stable condition.

Ambulance Victoria is continuing to review the case.