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Paramedics on triple-0 calls used as taxi drivers

by sweet east pearl | July 22, 2008 at 08:05 pm | 86 views | add comment

Pensioners using ambulances for free ride was disgraceful. What if someone else is killed or injured as a result of no ambulances available.

PARAMEDICS responding to emergency Triple-0 calls in Sydney's west are instead being used as de facto taxi drivers to local shops.

Older residents are the main offenders - using their pensioner entitlements to secure a free ride in an ambulance instead of paying a taxi fare to go shopping, ambulance sources have confirmed.

An ambulance ride to Mt Druitt Hospital costs $290, but the fee is waived for pensioners and other entitlement card holders.

Paramedics have watched in horror as patients miraculously recover from headaches and other feigned ailments to go shopping across the road.

"You get them to the emergency department and they walk out the door. They are the same patients, you know who is going to do it," a source said.

"Once the ambulance (crew) has cleared paperwork, they leave and see the person crossing the road and going to the shopping centre. An ambulance is an instant free taxi with a pension (entitlement) card."