Maryborough man dies after half-hour wait

THE DEATH of a Maryborough man who waited more than half an hour for paramedics while having a heart attack has reignited calls for more ambulance resources.

John Jarratt, 73, went into cardiac arrest at his Maryborough home at 6am last Friday.

His wife and daughter made two calls to triple-0 but were told the only local ambulance was stuck in Bendigo.

Off-duty paramedics in Maryborough attended the incident and arrived at the man’s home shortly after 6.30am.

The three paramedics worked on the man for 40 minutes before he was declared dead.

Ambulance Employees Secretary Steve McGhie said the death could potentially have been avoided if more resources were available for paramedics.

Mr Jarratt was a former president of the Maryborough Ambulance Auxiliary and heavily involved in Probus clubs and the Uniting Church.

It is the sixth death in Maryborough in the last two years that’s been linked to ambulance delays.

Mr McGhie said the ambulance on duty at the time had to transport a patient to Bendigo Hospital, creating a turnaround time of three hours.

The next closest ambulance, from Avoca, was responding to an incident in Ballarat at the time.

A MICA ambulance crew from Castlemaine was dispatched but didn’t arrive at the man’s home until after 6.30am.

Ambulance Victoria said it was reviewing its response to the case.

Loddon Mallee regional manager Kevin Masci said ambulance resources in Maryborough had recently been increased to have two permanent crews every day and a permanent crew every night.

“At the time of the call, local crews were already on cases so the nearest appropriate ambulances were dispatched from Castlemaine and Ballarat,” he said.

“As this occurred, off-duty paramedics were recalled on overtime to provide the best possible response.

“The first paramedics reached the scene at 6.26am, with a second crew arriving five minutes later.

“Despite efforts to revive the man, he died at the scene.”

Mr McGhie said the Maryborough Ambulance station needed a single-response MICA unit to help avoid similar delays.

“If there was a single response vehicle it would likely have been there within 10 minutes,’’ he said.

‘‘Paramedics certainly would have got to this gentleman a lot quicker and it would have given the paramedics a greater opportunity to get the best possible potential outcome.’’