Mr DUNHAM - 2001-07-04
Mr DUNHAM (Health, Family and Children’s Services): Mr Speaker, I received a question yesterday that I took partially on notice and I would like the opportunity to respond to that.
The question came from the Leader of the Opposition and it referred to an accident involving an elderly person in their home and their call for an ambulance. I appreciate the opportunity to put the details on the record. It is important when allegations of this type are made that those organisations that are involved, particularly the St John Ambulance service, be given the opportunity to put their side of the story.
The opposition has a very sorry record with this business. Most of us will recall the failed candidate for the seat of Blain ran a series of allegations relating to ambulance services and had some particularly grubby headlines talking about people dying, or the potential for people to die, while waiting for an ambulance. They even ran a case which was portrayed in the paper as somebody waiting at home when the incident was some 18 months earlier. So I was very wary when I received the question yesterday and that is why I spoke to the St John Ambulance Brigade. I am happy to put these facts on the public record.
From the outset, it was an unfortunate accident. It was a fall in someone’s home which we are all prone to whether young or old, frail or healthy. It is really important that the indicators of those accidents, whether they are serious enough to warrant an ambulance, are assessed by appropriate authorities. I can confirm, without identifying the injured woman, details of the call.
Last Thursday, as the Leader of the Opposition said, at approximately 2250, the first call for an ambulance came from a Darwin suburban home that a 64-year-old woman had fallen down some steps at home. St John confirms that both operational crews were engaged, one at Batchelor and one at Palmerston.
Five minutes later, at 2255, the on-call paramedic was woken and advised of the incident and was mobile and responding to the case in less than 10 minutes. Two minutes later, the paramedic was advised that a neighbour was on the scene and had assisted the injured woman and was treating her very adequately, mainly due to the fact that he was a doctor. This is a particularly salient fact because I am sure that the despatch officer at St John Ambulance would have taken some comfort from the fact that a doctor was on the scene and was treating the woman, and that in fact he had confirmed that the patient’s code was code 2.
We have talked about this before. Code 1 is actually urgent and code 2 is non-urgent. There was never any doubt in the minds of those people involved in this incident, that this was a code 2 incident. It should be pointed out that the other two ambulances were both at code 1 incidents. At that stage, the doctor advised that the woman was being transferred to Royal Darwin Hospital privately and that there was no longer the necessity for the paramedic to arrive or the ambulance to arrive at a later time. Therefore the event was cancelled.
The woman was receiving excellent care from a very well-known Darwin doctor and, as unfortunate as the event was, I think the excellent care that was provided not only in her home but in Royal Darwin Hospital should be acknowledged, which it wasn’t fully in the media reports that were run last night. I should be able to assure Territorians that we have a very good ambulance service here. It is a service that, when compared with some of those run down services in our southern states, bench marks very well.
This type of irresponsible scaremongering only serves to demonstrate yet again that the Labor Party will stoop to any depths in their attempts to denigrate the good work done through a variety of health professionals here in the Northern Territory, including public servants and the non-government sector.
The question came from the Leader of the Opposition and it referred to an accident involving an elderly person in their home and their call for an ambulance. I appreciate the opportunity to put the details on the record. It is important when allegations of this type are made that those organisations that are involved, particularly the St John Ambulance service, be given the opportunity to put their side of the story.
The opposition has a very sorry record with this business. Most of us will recall the failed candidate for the seat of Blain ran a series of allegations relating to ambulance services and had some particularly grubby headlines talking about people dying, or the potential for people to die, while waiting for an ambulance. They even ran a case which was portrayed in the paper as somebody waiting at home when the incident was some 18 months earlier. So I was very wary when I received the question yesterday and that is why I spoke to the St John Ambulance Brigade. I am happy to put these facts on the public record.
From the outset, it was an unfortunate accident. It was a fall in someone’s home which we are all prone to whether young or old, frail or healthy. It is really important that the indicators of those accidents, whether they are serious enough to warrant an ambulance, are assessed by appropriate authorities. I can confirm, without identifying the injured woman, details of the call.
Last Thursday, as the Leader of the Opposition said, at approximately 2250, the first call for an ambulance came from a Darwin suburban home that a 64-year-old woman had fallen down some steps at home. St John confirms that both operational crews were engaged, one at Batchelor and one at Palmerston.
Five minutes later, at 2255, the on-call paramedic was woken and advised of the incident and was mobile and responding to the case in less than 10 minutes. Two minutes later, the paramedic was advised that a neighbour was on the scene and had assisted the injured woman and was treating her very adequately, mainly due to the fact that he was a doctor. This is a particularly salient fact because I am sure that the despatch officer at St John Ambulance would have taken some comfort from the fact that a doctor was on the scene and was treating the woman, and that in fact he had confirmed that the patient’s code was code 2.
We have talked about this before. Code 1 is actually urgent and code 2 is non-urgent. There was never any doubt in the minds of those people involved in this incident, that this was a code 2 incident. It should be pointed out that the other two ambulances were both at code 1 incidents. At that stage, the doctor advised that the woman was being transferred to Royal Darwin Hospital privately and that there was no longer the necessity for the paramedic to arrive or the ambulance to arrive at a later time. Therefore the event was cancelled.
The woman was receiving excellent care from a very well-known Darwin doctor and, as unfortunate as the event was, I think the excellent care that was provided not only in her home but in Royal Darwin Hospital should be acknowledged, which it wasn’t fully in the media reports that were run last night. I should be able to assure Territorians that we have a very good ambulance service here. It is a service that, when compared with some of those run down services in our southern states, bench marks very well.
This type of irresponsible scaremongering only serves to demonstrate yet again that the Labor Party will stoop to any depths in their attempts to denigrate the good work done through a variety of health professionals here in the Northern Territory, including public servants and the non-government sector.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016