Last rites performed in mid-Mass medical drama

A doctor answering an emergency call to a Hawera church service on Sunday discovered it was his mother-in-law who had collapsed and the priest had already performed the last rites.

Erwin Eloff took all that in his stride - but it was a 30-minute wait for an ambulance that really rattled him.

Both the Hawera ambulances were out of town on other jobs, but the ambulance communications centre did not convey this. An ambulance eventually arrived from a Patea callout.

"We could have got her to the hospital in a car in five minutes," said Dr Eloff. "Fortunately she had not had a heart attack, and her collapse was caused by very low blood pressure.

"It could easily have been a life-threatening situation, a heart attack or stroke. I was in contact with the ambulance drivers so they knew we had things under control. But it could have been a lot worse.

"Why didn't the communications operator use commonsense and tell us the ambulances were both tied up? This kind of thing happens far too often.

"Believe me, it's a nightmare for those of us who are in the front line dealing with medical emergencies.

"If we had regional control of our ambulances, it would not happen." All Taranaki ambulance calls are handled at a national centre in Wellington.

The national ambulance communications centre director, Tony Blaber, says when a patient's condition is classified as serious - as in this case - the centre does not ask callers to arrange transport by car to hospital as this can be dangerous.

"Ambulances are dispatched based on clinical priorities, with the nearest available ambulance dispatched as soon as possible. Callers are asked to phone back as soon as possible if the patient's condition deteriorates."

The 111 call for an ambulance to attend the Hawera case was received at 9.37am when the ambulances on duty in the area were already assigned to priority one calls. The first available was assigned to the Hawera callout and arrived at the scene at 10.07am, 30 minutes later.

The incident happened at Sunday's 9am Mass at St Joseph's Catholic Church in Victoria St, Father Anthony Ford officiating.

"When I arrived there, the priest was giving her the last rites before continuing with the service. I looked down at her and recognised my mother-in-law," Dr Eloff said.

"You can't buy that sort of a drama.

"Two of our Hawera nurses, Erin Keegan and Annie Dombroski, were at the Mass and attended her very well."

Father Ford has since left for a conference at Blenheim and could not be contacted yesterday.