COMMUNITY members are being reminded to only call for an ambulance should it be an emergency after a member of the public recently waited an hour for help.
According to shadow minister for regional health Penny Pratt, a Mount Gambier/Berrin resident suffered a seizure last month while at a local hotel.
Ms Pratt brought up her concerns during a recent Parliament sitting stating emergency services were called and advice was given there was no ambulance available in Mount Gambier/Berrin at the time.
Instead, a crew from Millicent arrived over an hour later with Ms Pratt stating it was reported afterwards there were four ambulances back at base.
As of next year, there is expected to be three emergency ambulance vehicles running 24/7 with a regional transfer crew also planned to run for an extra 12-hours.
Currently there are two emergency ambulance vehicles from 7am until 7pm in Mount Gambier/Berrin alongside a regional transfer crew with another two emergency ambulances running between 7pm and 7am.
Speaking with The Border Watch, Limestone Coast Ambulance Employees Association SA representative Andrew Shouksmith said it was not uncommon for ambulances from other towns to be called to the main city, especially with emergencies at night.
He said there were only two emergency services available in Mount Gambier/Berrin at night with the job and workload often “pushing it out for emergency work”.
“What that does is then compounds it and work backs up and we have to bring in vehicles from Penola or Millicent to service Mount Gambier,” Mr Shouksmith said.
“It is obviously concerning that we are not able to find enough resources to respond to emergency cases but the solution is being put in frame and will not happen for another year.
“That is everything we have been saying since the current Government has come in, that we were not able to get the resources right there and then.”
He said unfortunately, Mount Gambier/Berrin was the “last cab off the rank” for the extra resources promised before the latest State election.
“It will be stressful for members because there is no other solution and we are relying more and more on volunteers to pick up the slack but at the same time volunteer numbers appear to be decreasing,” Mr Shouksmith said.
“There is no short-term solution and we endeavour to prioritise cases obviously, but there will be times where the demand outstrips the resourcing.”
He said there was always going to be a “considerable amount of resourcing” with the best case scenario being having an ambulance available in Mount Gambier/Berrin.
“If there was nobody available in Mount Gambier they would have tasked the next available vehicle which could have been in Millicent, clearing a case in Hatherleigh which is about an hour,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that the nearest resource would have been sent but at that stage there would have been nobody available in Penola so it is just a matter of fact.
“It is unfair to pick one case in isolation but there will always be cases for whatever reason that it takes an abnormal amount of time.”
Mr Shouksmith said it was concerning that someone had waited an hour after having a seizure and reaffirmed that staff cared for patients.
“We do care and we try to provide that but it makes it hard for the staff because they do get affected by it,” he said.
“Until the extra resourcing comes in, this is just going to happen and we have said loud and clear we would like to see the resourcing moved forward but we are also aware that apart from the financial factors we need to recruit and train and that is all limiting factors.”
According to Mr Shouksmith it was a result of “years and years of previous governments on both sides” running the ambulance service down.
“The best thing the community can do is not call the ambulance if it is not an emergency which is the same message as not going to the emergency department if it is not an emergency,” he said.
Minister for health Chris Picton responded to Ms Pratt’s question during Parliament stating he understood there was a “significant need” for more ambulance officers and paramedics to be based in Mount Gambier/Berrin.
“We have been, in fact, ahead of schedule of what we said in the election of when they would be delivered, and we have in fact published that information,” Mr Picton said.
“It’s available for all of our staff to clearly know when those additional crews are coming online, including the additional crews coming on in Mount Gambier and other regional locations.
“That means that we are going to be able to communicate clearly ahead of time to our staff where those opportunities are going to be for additional staff to be recruited to give us the best opportunity of getting those paramedics and ambulance officers in place in those regional locations, because obviously we know there’s added complexity sometimes in recruiting to regional areas as well.”