The New South Wales ambulance service is investigating the cases of three patients who all died after waiting about half an hour for paramedics to arrive.
All three patients had time-critical injuries and died in Sydney and the Blue Mountains in the past six weeks.
Sydney newspapers report that in one case, a 90-year-old woman was forced to spend half an hour performing CPR on her 54-year-old son as he lay choking at their home at Blackheath, in the Blue Mountains.
NSW Ambulance Commissioner Ray Creen said his organisation was aware of the cases and trying to get to the bottom of the delays.
“We’re examining them and the circumstances around them and our response to each patient and we’ll be in contact with the families,” he said.
“NSW Ambulance always works to get to patients as quick as we possibly can and it’s always regrettable if there’s a delay in delivering patient care.”
Mr Creen said it was not yet clear why the ambulances took so long.
“Obviously we get surges in demand,” he said.
Health Services Union (HSU) secretary Gerard Hayes said a shortage of paramedics and delays in emergency departments were causing problems across the state.
“The main problem is a systemic issue that needs to be addressed, that hasn’t been addressed for over a decade,” Mr Hayes said.
“There is one person to take responsibility and that’s the Minister. The Minister is well aware of these issues.
“It is now time to put the appropriate staffing in place and clear up the trolley-block outside emergency departments.”
NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner offered her condolences to the families of the patients and asked the ambulance service to report back to her on the findings of its investigation.
“The NSW Government has boosted the number of paramedics on the road, with an additional 205 paramedics joining NSW Ambulance since June 2011,” Ms Skinner said.
“As at October, the state-wide median 1A ambulance response time for potentially life-threatening cases was 7.57 minutes; 1A responses are designated for response within 10 minutes.”
The Opposition’s health spokesman, Walt Secord, placed the blame firmly on the Government.
“When you tear $3 billion out of the health system, you affect the entire system – so you have a lack of beds, longer waits at emergency departments, fewer paramedics and longer response times,” he said.