AMBULANCE SERVICE

Waikato Times, Volume 194, Issue 22321, 12 April 1944, Page 2

AMBULANCE SERVICE

COMPLAINT AGAINST DELAY

Complaint has been received from a correspondent, Mr H. B. Anderson, that on a recent occasion when he rang for a St. John ambulance to take his wife, who was critically ill, to the hospital it was first promised and then refused on the grounds that an ambulance could not be sent without the authority of a medical certificate. Three-quarters of an hour before the refusal the station officer had informed him that the ambulance would be sent immediately. No doctor was available at the time. On the occasion —three-quarters of an hour later—when he was informed that the ambulance could not be sent for the reason stated, he informed the station officer that if an ambulance did not come at once the “responsibility for the consequences would be theirs.” An ambulance was then sent but unfortunately the patient died before she could be admitted to hospital. It was explained by the officer in charge of the St. John ambulance station that in cases where the authority of a doctor was not available for the patient to be admitted, authority had then to be obtained from the hospital authorities before the patient could be admitted. From the symptoms explained to him the hospital doctor could diagnose whether the case was one for admission. If he considered it was a case for admission he would authorise the ambulance to call for the patient. In the case in which the incident complained of occurred the regular officers were not on duty and the relieving officer, not fully conversant with the procedure, first told the patient’s husband that he would come immediately. On advising the hospital he was told that as the condition of the patient was not known she could not be admitted. He was unable to advise the husband of this until some time later when he rang the station again. It was pointed out by the officer in charge that the procedure followed was a necessary precaution against the indiscriminate use of ambulance facilities by people whose condition did not warrant immediate medical attention at a hosptal, the accommodation of which was severely taxed and whose medical staff was working at high pressure in an endeavour to cope with the work on hand. In cases of accidents, of course, the ambulance immediately answered a call for assistance no matter from whom it came.