Father forced to give son CPR during 35-minute wait for ambulance

A South Australian father says he had to spend more than half an hour giving CPR to his seven-year-old son while waiting for an ambulance that took more than twice as long to arrive as it should have.

Sam found his son Leo unresponsive, blue, and experiencing a seizure at their Aldinga home, prompting Sam to start CPR while waiting for paramedics to arrive. 

His triple zero call was classified as a priority two emergency, with an expected arrival time within 16 minutes. However, the ambulance took 35 to reach them.

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"It was terrifying," he said.

"It was the longest 35 minutes of my life just making sure Leo was going to be OK."

The seven-year-old was eventually taken safely to hospital.

SA Ambulance says it's conducted a review of the response time, and agrees it was an unacceptable delay caused by a busy afternoon for crews.

The government says across the past three years, response times for priority two cases have improved, but the opposition has criticised it in Sam's case.

"This is exactly what the government promised to fix, we need to know whether a review has occurred, and if so what role did record ramping under the government play," opposition health spokesperson Ashton Hurn said.

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As for Sam, he expressed hope that authorities will take action to prevent other families from experiencing similar distress. 

"I hope that they can fix it so families don't have to go through what we have gone through," he said.

"It was such a long time to be worrying about is he going to make it."

This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.