Ambulance Services

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:29): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding ambulances.

Leave granted.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: A damning recording was released last night that revealed many priority 2 emergency calls, with no ambulance crew available to respond. The recording refers to multiple cases of trauma, collapse, chest pain and abdominal pain. It has been reported that a trauma case involved two cyclists who had been involved in a traffic collision. My questions to the minister are:

1. What exactly does the minister have to say to two cyclists who lay injured on the side of the road, with no-one coming to help them?

2. Under this minister's leadership, why can't South Australians expect to have an ambulance service respond to an emergency?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:30): There were certainly examples of ambulance ramping and a delayed response last night, and that is regrettable. The Ambulance Service did its best to respond to calls, and I take this opportunity to thank the hardworking staff of both the dispatch function and the paramedics, and express my regret to the patients involved.

When one sits down and looks at what was happening yesterday, it does highlight the fact that the Ambulance Service is significantly impacted by the wider hospital network. This government has consistently made clear that the ambulance ramping is not just a matter of what happens within the Ambulance Service. The hospital networks in particular need to play their part to make sure there is good patient flow. If we are not discharging patients in a timely fashion, the beds are not available for the people in the ED to transfer them into the beds. If people in the ED are not being assessed and treated quickly enough and being transferred to those beds, that can cause a delay in the transfer of care and a delay in the response of ambulances.

The information provided to me, which I have been able to glean this morning, is that yesterday was significantly affected by factors beyond the Ambulance Service. As I said, I regret the stress on both the Ambulance Service and the staff in our EDs and the patients they serve. The government, the local health networks and the Ambulance Service are all working hard to develop pathways that respond to patients needs in a timely way.