Adelaide woman spent her final day ‘in absolute pain’ waiting for an ambulance

An Adelaide family is calling for better communication on ambulance response times after a grandmother with cancer was left waiting for an ambulance in “extreme agony” last year.

The SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) said it has a call back procedure to keep people informed of delays but would speak with the family involved.

Betty Dobson, who was battling pancreatic cancer, died last February from a perforated bowel.

While her family acknowledged an ambulance would not have saved her life, it would have eased her pain on her final day.

Husband Stephen Dobson said they rang triple-0 when his wife complained she was in extreme pain on February 20, 2023.

The couple from Hackham West waited more than an hour before ringing back, only to be told there were no ambulances available.

Mr Dobson said had he known earlier an ambulance was not available, he would be able to make alternative arrangements to get his wife to a hospital.

“We were waiting while she was in extreme agony for an ambulance that wasn’t going to arrive and the people at the call centre must have known that there wasn’t an ambulance on its way,” Mr Dobson said.

“Not only that, but there wasn’t going to be one.

“That was pretty hard to take in, we’re in a capital city, two kilometres from an ambulance station.”

With the help of a neighbour, Mr Dobson said he drove his ailing wife to the Noarlunga Hospital.

She died at the Flinders Medical Centre the following day, four months after she was diagnosed with cancer.

“If the ambulance was earlier, it wouldn’t have prolonged her life but it certainly would have alleviated her pain,” Mr Dobson said.

Mr Dobson said he would have preferred an ambulance, which would provide his wife pain relief, “rather than going through the trauma of cramming her into a car”.

Grieving family wants answers

Daughter Julie Dobson said she wanted the health system to be improved to inform people how long they might be waiting for an ambulance.

“Uber can tell you how far away their food is but you can’t tell how far away an ambulance is,” Ms Dobson said.

“My mum suffering in absolute pain and not being able to have any form of pain relief and no one rang back.”

SAAS chief executive officer Rob Elliott said call back procedures were followed after Mr Dobson rang triple-0 but he would look into the case and provide the family answers.

He said commercial apps that track deliveries “are not subject to the same pressures of those urgent, life-threatening calls coming in”.

“Unfortunately every triple-0 call can change our operating picture in an area, so while we might have an ambulance almost ready to arrive, if a genuine high priority medical emergency was to happen nearby, that ambulance would have to be diverted to the patient of the most urgency,” Mr Elliott said.

“In ambulance services, we feel the safer option is to call people back, have a clinical discussion about their healthcare and provide them with excellent advice.”

He said in some cases they might find and arrange alternate transport, and sometimes they were able to provide an estimated wait time for “lower acuity patients”.

Health Minister Chris Picton said ambulance response times had “vastly improved” over the past two years.

“I think people can have confidence when they see those response times over the past couple of years have got significantly better that we are on the right trajectory as we put those resources and staff in place,” Mr Picton said.

Opposition health spokesperson Ashton Hurn has called for an investigation into what happened on the day Ms Dobson died, adding that Noarlunga Hospital had one of its worst months of ramping in February last year.

“It’s quite tragic that in Betty’s last day of life there wasn’t an ambulance there when she needed one the most,” Ms Hurn said.

“To be in such pain and for your loved one to be calling an ambulance and for there not to be one available, I think that demands answers.”