Lives on the line as ambulance dispatch system comes under fire

Ambulance Employees Australia general secretary Steve McGhie said lives were clearly being put at risk.

He said an ambulance was called for Warrnambool’s Walter Martelloni last Saturday, but because he did not have the symptoms of a heart attack a unit was not dispatched.

He died early Monday morning.

The incident comes just weeks after Warrnambool man Ron Ziegeler, 81, waited two hours for an ambulance. He also died the following day.

Mr McGhie said people were falling through cracks in the computer system and the Warrnambool incidents showed lives were in jeopardy.

“There is no doubt people are being put at risk. We have called for a review and clearly it’s time for that to be put in place,” Mr McGhie said.

“Time critical patients are clearly not receiving the necessary attention.”

The computer-based dispatch system lists a set criteria of questions based on millions of cases from around the world and the ambulance crew’s level of response is triggered by the answers.

General questions are asked in relation to criteria such as breathing, pulse and pain.

Lois Martelloni, Walter’s wife, said yesterday she called the ambulance even though her 79-year-old husband did not want to go to hospital on Sunday, November 20.

“The first time we did have a problem,” she said.

“But by the third time I checked on him he was up off the bed and cleaning his teeth.

“I suppose he should have gone but he didn’t want to.

“All the ambulance dispatch person was worried about was whether he was having a heart attack.

“I was on the phone for 10 minutes and we came to a decision not to get an ambulance, they didn’t think it was urgent.”

Mrs Martelloni said she didn’t really have a problem with the service provided by the ambulance crews.

“Initially he was shaking and couldn’t stand.

“They didn’t send an ambulance.

“His symptoms were shaking. Walter did not have the symptoms of a heart attack and he had no history of heart problems,” she said.

“If he was having chest pains they would have come immediately.

“On Sunday night we decided to go to hospital the next morning, but by then he was gone.”

Mrs Martelloni said subsequent scans had failed to determine why her husband passed away.

“The body scan didn’t pick anything up. Biopsies have been taken but we haven’t got the results back yet.

“He had emphysema, had that for a long time.

“Maybe that is part of it, we don’t know.

“I would have liked him to go to hospital but he didn’t want to,” she said.

An Ambulance Victoria spokesman said an ambulance was called on November 20 at 9.10pm and the quality review team had listened to the call.

He said it was decided in consultation with the caller that she would try to get the patient to hospital by herself after the man’s condition improved during the call.

“An ambulance was organised and was on the way when the caller confirmed the man’s condition had improved and she was comfortable taking the man to hospital.

“We requested the caller call back if she changed her mind.

“The next contact was at 6.36am Monday when the patient was in cardiac arrest.”

Mid-last month the issue of the ambulance dispatch systems was highlighted when Mr Ziegeler waited in extreme pain for more than two hours for an ambulance. He passed away in hospital the next day.

His wife Mill called an ambulance for her distressed husband at 8.05pm, but paramedics did not reach their Otway Road house until 10.23pm.

Mr Ziegeler was a cardiac patient who had been receiving palliative care. His son Richard said yesterday that although the ambulance service had issued an apology through The Standard, there had been no personal contact from the service.

“We haven’t heard a damn thing about why it took over two hours to get to us,” he said.

“What really annoys me and anyone else I’ve spoken to is that no one, not even the ambulance officer, understands why they had not been notified earlier.

“They weren’t particularly busy and it simply seems the fault of the dispatch system.

“There is no doubt this dispatch system should be reviewed. The whole system does not work.”