Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:11): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing about health. How does the minister explain the death of an 89-year-old man from North Plympton who died in hospital from complications after he waited between four and five hours for an ambulance in late September?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:11): If the honourable member is referring to an incident in relation to concerns about delayed response to an ambulance, my advice is that the incident has been registered on the South Australian Ambulance Service Safety and Learning System. It is concerning and distressing for everyone involved when a call involves an elderly patient, and our thoughts are with both families.

SAAS continues to work on response times so that crews can get to their patients as soon as possible. Recruitment for additional crewing is underway to boost our metropolitan response capacity and to reduce ambulance delays. In that regard, my recollection is that one of those rosters commenced operation yesterday.