Melbourne thunderstorm asthma victims left waiting for ambulances which had not been despatched

Posted June 26, 2018 15:22:50

Photo: Rye grass is one of the main causes of thunderstorm asthma. (Supplied)

Related Story: Thunderstorm asthma victims had 15 minutes from symptoms to cardiac arrest, expert tells inquest

Map: Melbourne 3000

Demand for ambulances was so high during Melbourne's thunderstorm asthma event that some people were told an ambulance was on its way when, in fact, a despatch "had not occurred", a coroner has heard.

Ten people died in the November 2016 event, which saw rye grass pollen swept across the city during a dramatic a cool change.

The pollen burst into very fine particles, sparking asthma-like symptoms in thousands of people across the city.

A hearing into the deaths was told the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ETSA), which operates the 000 emergency call service, received as many calls in a two-hour window as they would in "a normal New Year's Eve".

ETSA's operations manager, Michelle Smith, told the hearing that from 6:00pm on Monday 21 November to 6:00am the next day, the authority received the "single greatest volume of calls" in its history.

More than 1,300 calls came in between 6:15pm and 8:15pm on the Monday.

At its peak, between 7:00pm and 7:15pm, the service had 201 calls. It had anticipated 29 calls.

The event put such a strain on services in Melbourne's west that no ambulances were available there within half an hour of the "surge" beginning, the court heard.

"The Ambulance Victoria fleet in the west was depleted by 18:30, creating a backlog", Ms Smith said, so crews from other areas had to be called in.

Protocols at the time required 000 operators to stick to the "exit scripts" and tell high-priority patients that an "ambulance is on its way", Ms Smith said.

Yet on that night, ambulances had not always been despatched, despite callers thinking a crew was on its way.

Those protocols have since been revised and callers are now told "help is being arranged".

Police, firefighters called on for assistance

Ms Smith told the court that ESTA had rostered on extra staff that night in anticipation of forecast thunderstorm activity.

But while the Bureau of Meteorology issued several updated forecasts on the day, none indicated a health event would occur, and initial warnings did not include Melbourne and central areas, she said.

The court was also told operators were called in to work overtime, breaks were cancelled and senior officers assisted. The court heard the number of call staff had almost doubled by 8:00pm.

By 7:40pm, ESTA management, including Ms Smith, had determined that no more non-emergency crews would be despatched.

As the night progressed, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was called in to assist, attending 11 separate "priority-one" events in a 20-minute period.

Police were also enlisted on 17 occasions to help to calm families and conduct welfare checks on people who had called in but could not be contacted.

The court heard ESTA was part of a statewide revised critical response plan after the Black Saturday fires of 2009, but Ms Smith said it was "not done with a health event in mind".

That plan has since been updated, and a "red button" — which alerts a number of government agencies about a surge in activity — can now be activated.

The "red button" was used during Bourke St driving incident and Essendon plane crash in early 2017, the court heard.

If such a "surge" is to happen again, the authority's call staff can now advise people to seek alternative medical help and will advise callers that demand is high at that time.

The service is no longer offering time estimates on when an ambulance will arrive, and operators now have the discretion to end a call in order to deal with higher priority cases.

The hearing continues.

Topics: health, diseases-and-disorders, asthma, weather, storm-disaster, courts-and-trials, melbourne-3000, vic