<!–
<!–
<!– <!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
A man has died after waiting more than 10 hours for an ambulance, with hospital deployments still 'unacceptably high' despite promises to resolve the problem.
In pain and vomiting, an Adelaide man's 000 call should have resulted in an ambulance picking him up in no more than 60 minutes.
But on December 27, after a ten-hour wait in ambulances at hospitals across the city, the 54-year-old died a painful death with no help in sight.
That night, a Code White was declared for emergency departments in Adelaide, meaning all treatment rooms were used.
Unable to unload their passengers, ambulances were stuck outside hospitals instead of being available to the community, leading to major delays in ambulance response.
A video posted by the Ambulance Employees Association on X, formerly Twitter, shows at least ten vehicles waiting outside the Royal Adelaide Hospital that night.
“This tragic death is a stark reminder that when ambulances are deployed to hospitals, patients waiting in the community for care are left without care for unacceptable and dangerously long periods of time,” AEA industrial officer Josh Karpowicz said.
“Ramping takes ambulances off-road and endangers patients in an environment where no one is available to help them.”
SA Ambulance Service CEO Rob Elliott said very high triple zero demand and significant increases on the night of the man's death meant ambulances had to prioritize more urgent calls.
The man was initially listed as priority five, which the union said should have resulted in a collection within 60 minutes. But after 10 hours his condition deteriorated and a subsequent triple zero call resulted in him being moved to a priority one.
Mr Elliott said ambulance crews responded four minutes after the priority was lifted.
Three calls were made that night between the patient and dispatchers, he said.
Overnight performance on call back procedures for patients experiencing ambulance delays will be assessed as part of a review of the incident.
Ambulance deployment was a key issue that helped bring Labor to power in the 2022 state election.
Malinauskas' government has poured millions of dollars into expanding hospital capacity in an effort to resolve the crisis, but under her leadership its ramp-up has increased by almost a third.
In December, 3595 hours of ambulance availability were lost due to the advance through Adelaide.
Claims that ambulance patients were being taken to emergency rooms faster than waiting room patients to reduce rising statistics prompted the government to launch a clinical review in December.
But the union says the high levels and the tragic death of the man show this is not the case and patients in the community are at risk due to the delayed transfer of care.
Opposition health spokesman Ashton Hurn said despite Prime Minister Peter Malinauskas' promises to resolve the ramping, the problem worsened on his watch.