Opposition pushes for St John WA’s clinical review into Geraldton woman Joan Hope’s death to be made public

The Opposition is calling on St John WA to release publicly its clinical review into the death of Geraldton grandmother Joan Hope, who waited more than 30 minutes for an ambulance. Questions continue to be raised on the standard of health services in regional WA after Mrs Hope died of a heart attack waiting for an ambulance in April. The West Australian reported that St John WA’s root cause analysis review found mobilising an overtime crew “would not have improved response time” in Mrs Hope’s case, but identified a “miscommunication” between an ambulance crew offloading a patient at nearby Geraldton Regional Hospital and the St John call centre. The review’s key finding was that “increased ambulance resources were required to improve ambulance service availability to the greater Geraldton area”. Shadow minister for regional health Martin Aldridge said publicly releasing key recommendations from the document would hold St John WA accountable and push for improvement. “There’s no doubt ambulance ramping has an impact on the availability of emergency ambulances in Geraldton and across the Mid West,” he said. “The review into the Geraldton death — to the extent possible — we need to get to the information regarding the delay in emergency response times.” Geraldton Health Campus experienced a record 21 hours of ambulance ramping in June, but that dropped to 11.6 hours in July and 9.8 hours in August to date. Mr Aldridge said the Mid West deserved a well-resourced and fit-for-purpose health and ambulance sector, and the release of key recommendations would ensure action was taken to improve the service. “They should be publicly known, so we can make improvements to these issues and ensure they are being improved,” he said. Mr Aldridge said the review could decipher who needed to step up and be held accountable for the ramping delays, whether it be the ambulance provider or the State Government. “It’s time for the State Government to treat health services in the Mid West with the same urgency they are putting into building new train stations and footbridges in Perth,” he said. “The Government’s own Country Ambulance Strategy in 2017 identified the need for more regional paramedics as a priority, yet it took years for them to act.” A St John WA spokesperson said it continued to liaise closely with the families involved in cases subject to clinical review and an evaluation of the recommendations would be provided to the Patient Safety Surveillance Unit. “Outcomes from completed reviews are shared with the families involved and, when a potential Severity Assessment Code (SAC 1) is identified, it is lodged with the Patient Safety Surveillance Unit which monitors and reports on clinical incidents,” they said. In its 2022-23 Budget, the WA Government allocated $30.1 million for 18 extra paid paramedics and six additional ambulances in regional WA.