Queensland grandma in palliative care after waiting seven hours for ambulance
A Queensland family is preparing to say goodbye to their mother and grandmother, who was left waiting seven hours for an ambulance after a dangerous fall.
Ruth Wiggington, 73, fell out of bed at her nursing home, hitting her head and suffering a broken hip as she lay on the ground.
Her family rushed to the nursing home, where her daughter Angela Dean called multiple times for an ambulance.
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Ms Dean said her mother had been battling health issues for the last few years. Supplied
Seven hours later, paramedics arrived, transporting the already ill woman to hospital.
Ms Dean said the family read to the woman to pass the time and distract her from the pain.
"We couldn't move her back into the bed because she was in so much pain," she said.
"She couldn't move her legs at all."
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Ms Dean believes had the ambulance arrived sooner, her mother would not be in palliative care. Nine
The grandmother fell from her nursing home bed and was left waiting seven hours for an ambulance. Nine
Ms Dean said her mother was discharged from hospital that night.
Her broken hip was diagnosed almost a week later.
"Mum's heart then started beating fast from the pain of the broken hip, the whole week she was declining," Ms Dean said.
Doctors told Ms Dean her mother would not survive an operation, instead transferring her to palliative care.
But Ms Wiggington's family believes had an ambulance arrived sooner, the grandmother of six would be in better health.
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Woman says mum was left waiting seven hours for ambulance queensland Nine
"My family and I believe that if the ambulance had have arrived earlier, mum wouldn't be in palliative care," Ms Dean said.
"This has just really added to the stress and the sadness we're all feeling, it's really compounded it all a lot more."
Ramping delays have been an ongoing issue across Queensland's hospitals, with paramedics unable to transfer their patients to hospital beds and get back on the road.
New figures released today show that hospitals in the south-east regions of Logan and Ipswich face the worst ramping delays.
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Data reveals over half of all jobs require ambulances to ramp outside hospitals, adding to wait times for other patients.
A paramedic in Logan told 9News: "It's the busiest and lowest morale we've ever seen."
Another in the area's north said: "I'm so sick of hearing it was an unusually busy day, night. There are pending emergencies every single shift."
Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said every state in Australia was dealing with similar ramping issues, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This is a national issue... every single state is facing similar problems," she said.
"Every day is different... those demands fluctuate every single day but we know that every year they are increasing."
Data has found Queensland's ramping delays are the worst in the country. Nine
Opposition leader David Crisafulli said Queensland's ambulance ramping is the worst in the country, with wait times only getting worse.
"At 17 hospitals, ambulance ramping has got worse, despite the government crowing record amounts of funding," he said.
"The system is broken and we have to put our medical professionals back in charge."
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