A YAHL man has raised questions over the city hospital’s air ambulance retrieval procedures after he was denied the service despite needing pressing surgery in Adelaide.
Robert Moore smashed bones in his hands, wrists and arms when he fell off a six-metre high ladder.
Mr Moore – who has since had six hour surgery at the Flinders Medical Centre – said he was told by the Mount Gambier Hospital he could not be flown to Adelaide due the cost and his condition not being life threatening.
While he was offered a Regional Express flight, Mr Moore said he declined this option given he did not want to fly alone in his condition.
“I wondered how that was going to work, I could not use my phone. How would I have got to the hospital and carried my bag?” he queried.
“I had a broken scaffold bone in each hand, my wrists bones were smashed and dislocated bones in one arm.
“I have no problems with staff, it is just about how the hospital works. I know it was not life-threatening, but I needed surgery.”
Instead, Mr Moore travelled by car days later for five hours in excruciating pain to undergo surgery to save the movement in his hands.
Mr Moore said he wanted clarity over the air evacuation service given he was initially told he would be transferred by the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).
“It was not the service’s fault, they do a great job,” he said.
Mr Moore questioned whether the process was equitable for people living in regional areas given Mount Gambier did not have the surgical equipment needed to undertake the operation.
“If I did not have a car or money, what would I have done – lucky I did, but some people may not,” he said.
Mr Moore praised the staff in the Mount Gambier Hospital emergency department and the paramedic crew who responded to his property.
“I was cutting a branch of a tree, the branch came down and hit the bottom of the ladder and knocked me off the ladder,” he recalled.
“I came down face first and I must of hit my wrists on the ground – I have never felt pain like it in my life.”
He said he had some surgery the night of the accident at Mount Gambier Hospital and was told he would be flown to Adelaide.
Mr Moore said the specialist was pushing for him to be transferred.
“I was initially on the list to be flown up, but a nurse later told me I would not be flown because my condition was not life-threatening,” he recalled.
He said he was admitted to Mount Gambier Hospital on Thursday night in he high dependency unit.
“Four days had gone past and I was still sitting in hospital wondering what was happening – I needed to be operated on.
“I thought I was going on the Saturday, it did not happen. I eventually drove up to Adelaide on the Tuesday and had surgery on Wednesday.”
Mr Moore said the Flinders Medical Centre’s surgical team was notified on Friday that he would be coming for surgery.
According to a statement by the Limestone Coast Local Health Network, transfers by air ambulance are for patients requiring transport to another hospital in “emergency” situations.
“All transfers are determined by the treating medical officer and if it is deemed appropriate, a patient may be transferred by alternate means including commercial flights or by road,” a spokesperson said.
“The safety of our patients is always our number one priority and a full clinical assessment was considered in this case, as is with every case, before determining the best form of transport.”
Emergency transfers are funded by and the responsibility of the sending site, these costs including air transfer by ambulance and are part of the hospital’s budget.
The cost for an emergency transfer to Adelaide is about $2000 per patient.
