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Speaker 1: Andrew.

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Speaker 2: Good morning again, very good morning, so the third time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, sorry about that, mate. This phone line's giving us

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Speaker 1: some grief this morning. Now, now tell me. On the weekend,

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Speaker 1: we've had quite a few people get in contact with

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Speaker 1: us in relation to the footy on the weekend and

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Speaker 1: the fact that one of the games had to be

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Speaker 1: delayed as one of the women's Buffs players, as I

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Speaker 1: understand it, was quite badly injured and had laid on

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Speaker 1: the field for quite some time waiting for the ambulance

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Speaker 1: to arrive. Talk us through what happened from your perspective, Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Sure, Look, so, first of all, you know, we hope

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Speaker 2: that the female patient that suffered the injury is making

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Speaker 2: a recovery, and from my understanding, was quite a nasty

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Speaker 2: league fratch. So first of all, we hope that they're

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Speaker 2: making a recovery after being in hospital. From our perspective,

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Speaker 2: we received a call the patient had sustained a lead

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Speaker 2: injury and we responded cruise when we were able to.

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Speaker 2: Because of the nature of where the person was and

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Speaker 2: what had come across. We responded a single paramedic initially

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Speaker 2: because all of our other crews were tied up on

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Speaker 2: cases and from the main we received the call, it

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Speaker 2: was twenty nine minutes and we had that paramedic on scene.

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Speaker 2: That paramedic was able to, I believe, work with the

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Speaker 2: trainers that were out there and in terms of provide

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Speaker 2: adequate pain release and stabilize and treat the patient on

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Speaker 2: the field. From that point there we were endeavoring to

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Speaker 2: get an ambulance there to transport the patient to hospital. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: our workload at that time and the resourcing that we

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Speaker 2: have in Darwin was overstretched. And to give a bit

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Speaker 2: of an example, a lot of what that is between

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Speaker 2: three point thirty in the afternoon and eight thirty, so

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Speaker 2: over that five hour period, we had forty cases that

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Speaker 2: required our attendance, of which fifteen of those were a

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Speaker 2: priority one, which is the lights and sirens urgent lights

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Speaker 2: threat response. So at that time and when the patient

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Speaker 2: was on the field, we had an ongoing workload and

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Speaker 2: as most of people are aware, we only have fifteen

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Speaker 2: sorry correction, we only have that time during the day

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Speaker 2: six emergency ambulances in Darwin, and so from a resourcing

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Speaker 2: point of view, the response for those other lights and

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Speaker 2: sirens cases you know, does take presence. We triarged all

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Speaker 2: of our calls. Between when our paramedic got on SCEEN

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Speaker 2: and when the ambulance arrived there was just over an

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Speaker 2: hours an hour and ten minutes, which is a long time,

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Speaker 2: and we understand that. But they were in the care

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Speaker 2: of our paramedic and they were provided with good pain relief,

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Speaker 2: and we understand that. Obviously the delay that that cause

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Speaker 2: had an impact on moving the patient from the field

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Speaker 2: and the flow on subsequent effect end of the men's game.

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Speaker 2: And you know that paramedic made the decision at the

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Speaker 2: time not to move the patient, and I believe that

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Speaker 2: was just due to the nature of the injuries and

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Speaker 2: concern for the well being of the patient. So once

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Speaker 2: the ambulance were arrived on scene, it was worth less

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Speaker 2: than fifteen minutes and we had the patient in the

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Speaker 2: ambulance and on the way to hospital.

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Speaker 1: So by the sounds of it, so the paramedic, the

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Speaker 1: first paramedic, but it was a single paramedic, was there

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Speaker 1: within twenty nine minutes on the scene. But it was

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Speaker 1: more a having to wait then for somebody else or

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Speaker 1: for others to come and assist that paramedic due to

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Speaker 1: the fact that there was also fifteen other category one

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Speaker 1: incidents that Saint John were dealing with at that point

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Speaker 1: in time.

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Speaker 2: That's correct. Yeah, in that sort of window of time

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Speaker 2: preceding the case, and then while that case was run,

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Speaker 2: we had fifteen Priority one incidents going on, and so

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Speaker 2: this case and albeit a serious leg fracture in our

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Speaker 2: trioch system, that's a priority too. And but so unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: in that period of time after the single paramedic got there,

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Speaker 2: we did have an ambulance on its way to there,

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Speaker 2: but it was diverted to a lights and sirens response.

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Speaker 2: So again we understand the frustrations in particularly in and

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Speaker 2: around both the football but then also the care and

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Speaker 2: the distress that it caused for that patient on the ground.

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Speaker 2: So we you know, we apologize for the for the

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Speaker 2: fact that it took a long time to get there,

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Speaker 2: but unfortunately that is the resourcing that we have, you know,

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Speaker 2: you know, to supply in Darwin.

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Speaker 1: So at this point in time, six emergency ambulances and

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Speaker 1: operating at any one time. I mean, Andrew, it does

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Speaker 1: sound like we need more, but I know that that

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Speaker 1: comes down to sort of funding and a whole raft

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Speaker 1: of things.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, we're working with in Tea Health and int.

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Speaker 2: We We've been discussing with them around the requirements for

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Speaker 2: ambulances and you know how we can look to speak

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Speaker 2: with them in terms of funding for additional for additional resources.

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Speaker 2: We know that our workload is continues to rise and

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Speaker 2: go up, and in the last year we saw an

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Speaker 2: eleven percent increase across the territory in the ambulance workload

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Speaker 2: and that flows into Unfortunately, then you know, with those

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Speaker 2: delays in terms of you know, receiving, getting crews to patients.

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Speaker 2: We know that that's you know, that impacts on those

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Speaker 2: people that are having a health crisis at the time

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Speaker 2: we do triage. And obviously we know our you know,

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Speaker 2: we need to send those patients to those lights and sirens,

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Speaker 2: all those jobs that are seen as lights areat and

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Speaker 2: unfortunately for our priority to responses, which are all still

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Speaker 2: very much people who are sick and need a response,

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Speaker 2: it does mean that they those cases quite often wait longer.

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Speaker 2: We do have a criteria or a response that's sort

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Speaker 2: of it beats around the national standards of getting to

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Speaker 2: priority two cases and that's that we should be aiming

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Speaker 2: to have an ambulance on a priority two case within

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Speaker 2: thirty minutes. Unfortunately, in Darwin. At the moment, we're only

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Speaker 2: reaching that KPI around thirty four percent of the time.

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean that that must be hard for you guys,

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Speaker 1: because you're in the very business of wanting to help

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Speaker 1: people and wanting to get there as quickly as you can.

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Speaker 1: But it can be difficult if you don't have the

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Speaker 1: you know, enough cruise or the resources to be able

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Speaker 1: to do that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, obviously it does play on the mindset of

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Speaker 2: the paramedics and it does put a little bit of

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Speaker 2: pressure on them to clear the hospital or to try

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Speaker 2: and get to the hospital and move on to the

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Speaker 2: next case. And you know that we try to make

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Speaker 2: sure that the well being of our staff and you

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Speaker 2: know that we can get those responses going on. And look,

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Speaker 2: you know, I suppose while there was a delay in

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Speaker 2: the ambulance. You know, I will say, as I said,

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Speaker 2: we did get a angle responding paramit there to support

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Speaker 2: the team that was with the patient and they received

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Speaker 2: you know, appropriate care and including pain relief and ongoing monitoring.

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Speaker 2: The patient was stable, and you know that resulted in

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Speaker 2: the fact that yes there was a delay, but the

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Speaker 2: patient was in good care and there's been taken through

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Speaker 2: the hospital for the further treatment.

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Speaker 1: Andrew, before I move along, what kind of I mean,

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Speaker 1: without going into specifics obviously, what kind of of incidents

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Speaker 1: are regarded as category one? I mean, is it that

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Speaker 1: real life threatening stuff?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so those sort of things that are category ones

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Speaker 2: are the things that are the life threats. So that's

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Speaker 2: the things in terms of you know, severe respiratory distress,

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Speaker 2: so you things like your asthmas or shorter breath where

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Speaker 2: people are able to speak, cardiac conditions with cardiac chest

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Speaker 2: pain with you know, those sort of responses that you

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Speaker 2: know indicate that you know it could be a heart attack,

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Speaker 2: altered conscious state seizures, So those sort of things that

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Speaker 2: you know, when we were about you know, those primary

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Speaker 2: ABC's airwe breathing and circulation issues, they're they're the key

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Speaker 2: things that I suppose trigger off a priority one and

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Speaker 2: that The tree Arch system that we use through the

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Speaker 2: communications center with our highly trained call takers is the

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Speaker 2: same call system that's used internationally and so it's accredited

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Speaker 2: and well structured. It is an adverse risk adverse system,

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Speaker 2: so it does prioritize up. But like everything, we need

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Speaker 2: to triarge these cases process and so while that's done

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Speaker 2: by our call takers. We also have a clinician in

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Speaker 2: comms who is able to look at some of these

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Speaker 2: cases and sometimes is able to say no, you know,

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Speaker 2: with a putting a clinician's brain onto it, I suppose

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Speaker 2: sometimes is able to say no, actually, this one needs

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Speaker 2: to be upgraded because of this, or I'm concerned about

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Speaker 2: these type of things. So you know, that's that's another

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Speaker 2: layer I suppose in our system that tries to make

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Speaker 2: sure that we can get the right resource to the

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Speaker 2: right patient at the right time.

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Speaker 1: Well, there's there's no doubt that there is so much

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Speaker 1: that our paramedics are called out to every single day,

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Speaker 1: and just on that, I do want to flick back

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Speaker 1: to Saturday, where we know that in Catherine, a quad

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Speaker 1: bite crash on a remote station occurred. The nearby health

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Speaker 1: clinic attended, but as I understand it, unfortunately that patient

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Speaker 1: passed away.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look absolutely tragic when we when we hear about

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Speaker 2: these fatalities, and in this case, our thoughts go out

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Speaker 2: to all those involved. We received a triple zero call

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Speaker 2: from the outstation and in conjunction through CareFlight and the

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Speaker 2: d m O service, we coordinated a response with the

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Speaker 2: help the local health clinic to respond to support and

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Speaker 2: our call takers provided resuscitation advice over the phone to

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Speaker 2: the people on the outstation, but unfortunately what could be done.

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Speaker 2: And so as I said, our thoughts go out to

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Speaker 2: all those involved.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely terrible stuff. Just to wrap up this morning,

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Speaker 1: we know that in some really good news, the Excellence

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Speaker 1: Awards are actually being held tonight, aren't they.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the Excellence Awards are being held tonight. And look,

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Speaker 2: it is a way where both internally as an organization,

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Speaker 2: we can acknowledge those staff that go above and beyond,

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Speaker 2: and we know all of our staff do an amazing

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Speaker 2: job each year and every single day. But you know,

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Speaker 2: when we have our awards each year, it's a way

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Speaker 2: that we're for those ones that are nominated. And the

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Speaker 2: nominations both come internally and externally. So this year we

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Speaker 2: received a large number of nominations externally, and that's from

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Speaker 2: members of the public, other emergency services, health services that

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Speaker 2: have all acknowledged, you know, some of our clinicians, whether

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Speaker 2: they be volunteers, whether they be paramedics and clinicians in

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Speaker 2: what they do, and so great night it will be

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Speaker 2: a chance for us to really go through and acknowledge

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Speaker 2: those members in the organization that are in the background.

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Speaker 2: So the support services acknowledging our volunteers and our paramedics,

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Speaker 2: and that culminates today tonight with the Paramedic of the

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Speaker 2: Year award that will be being presented. So yeah, as

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Speaker 2: I said, all of our staff do an amazing job

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Speaker 2: every year and every single day. This is the twenty

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Speaker 2: fifth year that the Paramedic of the Year and the

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Speaker 2: awards have been run and so you know, we really

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Speaker 2: appreciate the support of the Rotary Club who've been supporting

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Speaker 2: that for the twenty five years, and all of our sponsors,

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Speaker 2: and as I said, I know that from our staff too.

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Speaker 2: It's a really important bay of receiving positive feedback for

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Speaker 2: the great work that they do.

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Speaker 1: Well, I reckon we'll probably be talking to you or

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Speaker 1: somebody else later in the week to find out who

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Speaker 1: the paramedics are and who those that have been recognized

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Speaker 1: as well for the wonderful work that they do. Andrew Thomas,

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Speaker 1: the Saint John Ambulance Director of Ambulance Services, really appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time this morning and thank you very much for

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Speaker 1: giving us a bit more detail on that situation on

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Speaker 1: the weekend. As well at the footy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no problem, and as I said, we're obviously reviewing

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Speaker 2: all of the aspects around that case. This needs there's

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Speaker 2: anything we can obviously do to improve our response times

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Speaker 2: and we know that we're working to deliver the best

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Speaker 2: care that we can to the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff, Thank you, thanks so much for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Coatie,