Woman dies waiting two and a half hours for an ambulance
A Perth grandmother has died waiting two and a half hours for an ambulance after suffering a suspected heart attack.
Complaining of chest pains, 80-year-old Georgina Wild called 000 for help at 2.30am on Sunday, Nine News reported.
The job was marked as a Priority 1, meaning an ambulance should arrive at the Ashby home within 15 minutes.
But half an hour later, the call centre phoned back to advise Ms Wild that there were no ambulances available.
She was still waiting at 3.30am, when the operator called again for a welfare check.
However, by 4am Ms Wild didn’t answer.
In a message left on her answering machine, the St John Ambulance staff member said they were “just calling to check in".
By the time an ambulance arrived, almost two-and-a-half hours after Ms Wild called for help, she had died.
Paramedics found the front door unlocked and the grandmother on her couch with the television still on.
She was declared dead from a suspected heart attack.
St John Ambulance issues emergency alert
"It’s completely unacceptable, shocking and tragic," Western Australian Opposition Leader Mia Davies told Nine News, "in a state as wealthy as WA".
Ms Wild’s death came the same day St John Ambulance issued an emergency alert for delays to 000 calls due to high demand and a 20 per cent crew shortage as a result of COVID.
It was the second warning of its kind in a week.
St John Ambulance CEO Michelle Fyfe said they were doing everything they could with all resources on the front line.
“Sometimes words are not enough,” she said.
“There are no words that can make this better. There are no words.”
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