Ambulance denied after facial gash
Family members of an elderly man refused an ambulance and forced to wait five hours for treatment for a deep gash to his face are calling for an apology.
However, St John and the hospital are defending their actions.
Aupito Pupu Lolesio, the father of Mangere MP Aupito Su’a William Sio, was at his local gym in Manukau yesterday when he slipped and fell awkwardly on to equipment.
The 79-year-old suffered a gash to the left side of his face so deep the cheekbone was visible.
Gym staff phoned for an ambulance, but were stunned when the operator indicated the incident was not serious enough for one to be sent.
One of Lolesio’s children, Noma Sio-Faiumu, said she received a phone call shortly after the accident about 11am and rushed to the scene.
Speaking to the Herald, Sio-Faiumu said she was shocked to find gym staff arguing with a St John operator about getting an ambulance sent.
“I was in shock that my dad was injured, but then also in shock that the ambulance [wasn’t there].”
Sio-Faiumu said those around her father kept stressing to the operator they felt an ambulance was necessary given his age and the fact he was also a cancer patient.
“I said to her: ‘He is in serious need’,” Sio-Faiumu said.
“[The operator] said: ‘I think it’s faster if you just take him to the Manukau clinic just down the road.
“I said: ‘Nah, this is serious’. So I just took him to the hospital.”
Her elderly father had to wait until about 4.30pm before he was looked at by a doctor — almost five hours after they arrived at hospital.
The family had laid a formal complaint with St John and were planning to lay a complaint with Middlemore Hospital, she said.
The acting chief medical officer at Middlemore, Dr Vanessa Thornton, acknowledged the complaint, but said Lolesio had been assessed by staff who had deemed him to be a category three patient. A person needing to be seen urgently would be a category one patient.
A St John spokesman said the operator who took the 111 call managed it according to internationally recognised triage processes. The spokesman encouraged the family to contact St John to identify issues needing to be reviewed.