{"id":336935,"date":"2026-03-09T13:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T13:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/336935\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T13:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T13:03:14","slug":"regional-patient-effectively-ramped-for-almost-three-days-waiting-for-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/336935\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional patient ‘effectively ramped’ for almost three days waiting for care"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every morning Mick and Suzi Evans take a moment to enjoy a cuppa and check in before a busy day on the farm.<\/p>\n

It gives the pair a chance reflect at their property at Mantung in South Australia’s Riverland and start the day with a smile.<\/p>\n

Last September that routine was put on hold, when Mick suffered a suspected heart attack that left him “effectively ramped” at the Waikerie Hospital for almost three days.<\/p>\n

“I got up during the night and went to the toilet and when I got back into bed, I got a fairly heavy feeling across my chest,” Mick said.<\/p>\n

“I woke up Suzi and she called the ambulance and they took us to Waikerie Hospital where they did all sorts of tests.”\"Man<\/p>\n

Mick and Suzi Evans always make time for a cuppa in the morning to check in with one another. (ABC Riverland: Anita Ward)<\/p>\n

Mick said he was left “stranded” after an airlift request was continually cancelled, with no available beds at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.<\/p>\n

“I had to wait hours for the next blood test which came back elevated, so they kept me in hospital with the idea of going to Adelaide,” Mick said.<\/p>\n

Your Say: Tell us what matters to you this SA election<\/a><\/p>\n

We want to know what issues matter most to you and what you want us to find out ahead of the March 21, SA election.<\/p>\n

“The flights kept on getting diverted; they kept coming back and saying no, it’s been cancelled.”<\/p>\n

On his third day in hospital at Waikerie, Mick woke to the news he would be transferred to Ashford Hospital in Adelaide.<\/p>\n

Mick said once the process began, it was relatively quick and he was being seen to later that day.<\/p>\n

“It was a quick flight, it doesn’t take long and the care you get is incredible. I can’t speak highly enough of the hospitals and the ambulance and the flying doctor,” he said.<\/p>\n

It was confirmed that he had suffered a mild heart attack.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mick Evans was made to wait three days at a regional hospital waiting for the transfer. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)<\/p>\n

A long way to travel<\/p>\n

Suzi and Mick live almost 70 kilometres from the nearest hospital in Waikerie; it’s a round trip Suzi made every day while Mick remained in hospital waiting for a flight to Adelaide.<\/p>\n

“We understand that we’re not in the city and the hospital’s not just around the corner,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I’m paying for this extra private health cover so that we can take the pressure off the public system but it still didn’t really help us.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Suzi Evans drove more than 100 kilometres every day to visit Mick in hospital while he waited for a transfer. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)<\/p>\n

“We found a private cardiologist, but we still couldn’t get there. I just felt frustrated.”<\/p>\n

While Mick Evans’s flight was cancelled multiple times, the Royal Flying Doctor Service said it did not have autonomy to make decisions about patient transfers.<\/p>\n

The RFDS said decisions on transfers were made in partnership with SA Health, under a contract managed by the SA Ambulance Service (SAAS), which was renewed last year and has increased operations by an additional crew at all times.<\/p>\n

The SAAS said decisions about flight planning included a number of factors such as how urgent the patient transfer was and the ability to maximise aircraft use.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Even at 70, Mick Evans keeps very active on his farm in SA’s Riverland region. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)<\/p>\n

The SAAS said aircraft availability and flight planning also played a role in patient transfers, which were “not generally cancelled”.<\/p>\n

Although where clinically safe, it did acknowledge some less urgent cases may be delayed to ensure more serious cases were attended to.<\/p>\n

Investment needed in regional areas<\/p>\n

Ramping has been a statewide issue since the Labor party’s 2022 election victory, with an average of more than 3,800 hours lost to ramping in major SA hospitals every month<\/a> since April of that year.<\/p>\n

It’s something the party promised to fix ahead of the last state election, which helped it win back government at a time when health was on the minds of many voters.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ahead of the 2022 South Australian election, Labor put up posters with a message identical to this one. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

South Australia’s Liberal leader Ashton Hurn said her party would improve ramping if elected later this month.<\/p>\n

“My promise is that we will make it better through having a system-wide approach to health, making sure that you can get in to see a GP, making sure that we’ve got the requisite workforce that’s required,” she said.<\/p>\n

To date, the SA Labor party has not committed to any ramping targets ahead of the 2026 state election.<\/p>\n

Mick said he was disappointed ramping remained such a key issue in South Australia.<\/p>\n

“[The government] should invest in regional hospitals, so unless it’s really, really urgent, country [people] don’t have to be taken to Adelaide,” he said.\"A<\/p>\n

Suzi and Mick Evans are both frustrated ramping remains such a big issue in South Australia. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)<\/p>\n

“The premier and the government got elected to fix all this stuff; that was one of their key election promises.”<\/p>\n

SA Health said the health and safety of its patients is a high priority but some might have to wait longer during busy periods or if other patients presented with more urgent medical needs.<\/p>\n

However, it maintains patients are closely monitored and there is an escalation pathway in place if their condition changes.<\/p>\n

Safety issues also delayed the reopening of six regional hospital helipads in SA<\/a> last year, despite the state government investing $23 million into the project.<\/p>\n

Suzi’s work as an advocate<\/p>\n

Mick and Suzi understand there is no simple fix for the ramping crisis, but want to see more investment in regional areas to help ease pressure on the healthcare system.<\/p>\n

Suzi has spent the past eight years working as a mental health advocate, after tragically losing her son Murray to suicide in 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Suzi Evans wants to see investment in regional healthcare services to ease pressure elsewhere. (ABC Rural: Jessica Schremmer)<\/p>\n

“In rural areas, we can wait four to six weeks to get a GP appointment, to get a mental health care plan if you need one,” Suzi said.<\/p>\n

“Whether it be mental or physical health, I think people are actually being stopped from seeking help because they think it’s too hard or too difficult.”<\/p>\n

Mick also wants to make sure no-one else living regionally has to experience what he went through.<\/p>\n

“I’m 70 now, the older you get, the more you realise we need better health set-ups in country areas,” he said.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every morning Mick and Suzi Evans take a moment to enjoy a cuppa and check in before a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[154777,67337,103,397,396,3267,61,60,146172,154775,154773,154776,154774],"class_list":{"0":"post-336935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-air-transfers","9":"tag-ambulance","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-care","12":"tag-healthcare","13":"tag-hospitals","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-ramping","17":"tag-regional-hospitals","18":"tag-regional-patients","19":"tag-rfds","20":"tag-sa-election"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}