We had to wait five hours
A CAIRNS woman whose mother died waiting in the back of an ambulance had to relive the horror with her ill father this week during an anxious five-and-a-half hour wait.
Businesswoman Christine Taylor yesterday said she had mistakenly thought the situation could not possibly be as bad as 13 years ago when her terminally-ill mother died after waiting for hours in an ambulance outside Cairns Base Hospital’s emergency department.
"It all came rushing back… 13 years on and it's no different," said a distressed Ms Taylor, whose elderly father Robert Jones was partially paralysed and had dangerously-high blood pressure after a suspected stroke on Tuesday morning.
He had to wait in an ambulance outside ED from noon until 5.30pm because there were no beds.
Almost 24 hours later Mr Jones, 83, was finally admitted to a hospital ward when a bed became free.
A hospital spokesman yesterday said the emergency department had its busiest day on record on the Monday Queen's Birthday public holiday with 155 patients presenting for treatment, 52 of them by ambulance.
The rush continued on Tuesday, when Mr Jones attended, with 133 presentations, 54 by ambulance.
The usual daily average attendance is 110-115 patients.
Over the two days, about 80 patients were admitted.
The spokesman regretted any delays but stressed it was safer for patients to remain in the ambulance, where appropriate monitoring equipment was available, until a bed could be cleared. Once patients were in the ED they received the same care as they would in a ward, he said.
But Ms Taylor said the situation was not good enough for the most vulnerable elderly and frail members of society.
"My dad had no idea why he had to wait in the ambulance for so long," she said.
"He's an ex-Digger and he started getting very distressed, swearing and shouting'‘Let me out of here'.
"He knew he should be inside in a hospital bed."
Ms Taylor said she was not speaking out to vent her own anger but to stand up for people like her parents who the health system had failed.
"I have a duty to protect my Dad because at the moment he can't protect himself," she said.
"My mum didn't even make it to a bed."
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Anguish: Christine Taylor's father was forced to wait more than five hours for a hospital bed after he suffered a stroke this week.
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