A 47-year-old man who died of a heart attack while waiting for an ambulance "may have been successfully resuscitated" had a paramedic crew been present, an independent report has found.
Last month the man, known as Andrew, died in his car while pulled over on the side of the road, 41 minutes after he called triple-0 with jaw and chest pain.
He was initially listed as a "priority 2" case.
The incident is one of two that have been reviewed by South Australia's Chief Medical Officer, Michael Cusack, at the request of the state government.
The other review examined the response provided to a 77-year-old cancer patient, known as 'Mrs MJ', who waited more than two-and-a-half hours outside her Andrews Farm home for an ambulance after suffering a fall in June.
In that case, Dr Cusack found a combination of ramping at metropolitan hospitals, and ambulance staff shortages led to the delay.
'We will never know' if he could have been saved
Dr Cusack's report found that the information Andrew provided during his triple-0 call "indicated he was at high risk" as he described his symptoms and said he had previously suffered a heart attack.
"Had a paramedic crew been with Mr AR at the time of his cardiac arrest, he may have been successfully resuscitated at the scene or en route to an emergency department," the report stated.
Paul Lemmer, executive director of operations at the SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) said he would personally met with Andrew's family to offer his condolences.
"We will never know, if we had got there on time, could we have had another outcome. We'd love to go back, but we can't," he said.
"What the family are really keen to see is that there's change made to prevent this happening to someone else."
A key recommendation of Dr Cusack's report was that patients likely experiencing cardiac arrest should receive the first available ambulance.
It also recommended clinical support be given to help ambulance dispatch officers make decisions on patient priority, and suggested a review be undertaken of response prioritisation during periods of peak demand "to ensure remaining crews are focusing on those most in need".
Dr Cusack's report also emphasised the "urgent need to improve whole of hospital and system flows to reduce transfer of care delays".
Recommendations being implemented
The state government today accepted all the report's recommendations, with Health Minister Chris Picton reaffirming his party's pledge to "fix the state's ramping crisis".
"This is now a call for action to every part of the health system, to address these problems and to make sure we don't see these situations continuing," he said.
"We'll implement these recommendations and we're now asking the boards, and chief executives [of the local health networks], to implement these recommendations to make a difference."
Mr Lemmer said some recommendations had been "immediately" implemented by SAAS.
"We've been able to put some putting additional clinicians in our emergency operations centre to support the call-taking process, and ensure that prioritisation of resources can happen," he said.
From November, the ambulance service will have two additional day and night crews in metropolitan Adelaide.
A separate taskforce has also been established to increase the capacity of the Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) to respond to urgent cardiac cases, with an outcome expected in the coming month.
Ambulance Employees Association (AEA) SA secretary Leah Watkins said the report's findings were tragic but sadly, not unexpected.
"It's entirely expected and it's what our members have been telling us for years now — that this is the real impact of ramping at epic proportions," she said.
Ms Watkins said the impacts of ramping week after week are "incredibly distressing" for paramedics.
"It plays on the minds of ambos, whether they are the ones on the road responding or they are on the ramp not able to respond and hearing priority two cases that are waiting in the community," she said.
"They are constantly wondering is that the one that we are not going to make it to in time? Is that the one we are not going to make a difference for?"
Equivalent of five months lost to ramping in August
The reports come as South Australia recorded another horror month for ramping.
According to the latest data released today, 3,763 hours were lost to ramping in August– the equivalent of 156 days, or more than five months.
That's a slight drop from the all-time high of 3,854 hours lost to ramping in June, and a slight increase of July's ramping statics, which saw 3,647 hours lost to ramping.
Mr Picton said the state government was serious about fixing the problem.
"We have invested $2.4 billion to build additional capacity in the health system, including more hospital beds," he said.
The government said it will "free up" an entire ward at the Flinders Medical Centre, by relocating NDIS patients to the Griffith Rehabilitation Hospital at Hove.
A total of 30 beds will be opened at Griffith Rehabilitation Hospital.
At the request of his family, the ABC is not using Andrew's last name.
