Liza and Robbie Wighton called for an ambulance at the end of August for their 10-year-old son Riley, but were left to transport him to Inverell District Hospital themselves. They have since lodged a complaint.

Director of Ambulance Control Centres, NSW, Jamie Vernon, said he was aware of the patient complaint and had conducted an initial investigation into the triple-0 call.

“We regret that the service provided by NSW Ambulance did not meet expectations on this occasion,” Mr Vernon said.

“The call was received on August 30 by a specially trained call taker at our regional Operations Centre located at Dubbo. If at any time a Healthdirect triaging nurse considers a patient requires ambulance assistance, the call is transferred back to NSW Ambulance to initiate an immediate response. This did not occur in this case.”

Mr Vernon said Ambulance call takers used an international standard computerised medical triage and dispatch system to prioritise emergency calls.

“This system provides a specific list of questions for a range of medical issues and circumstances which gives the NSW Ambulance triple-0 call taker information about the patient, their condition and situation, allowing them to make a sound judgement in triaging the response,” Mr Vernon said. 

A spokesman from Health Services Union said as a general rule, the Union believed an ambulance should be dispatched in circumstances such as this.

"The HSU has deep sympathy for the Wighton family in what has obviously been a most distressing situation,” he said.

 "We understand the matter is under review and we will take a keen interest in the outcome.

“Too often we see essential services being forced to justify their existence based on cost rather than community need. If it is discovered that the ambulance was not sent because of a desire to reduce overtime for the region the blame lays squarely at the feet of cost cutting from the Baird Liberal/National Government.”

Liza and Robbie Wighton’s experience was similar to previous incidents reported across NSW. 

At Golbourn in October 2011, Geoff Chesworth died from a heart attack four hours after being refused an ambulance and advised by a nurse to see his GP. At the time the system was described by his sister as ‘frightening’.

In January 2012 a 91-year-old Muswellbrook woman was initially denied an ambulance after a fall in an aged care centre.

At Tamwoth in October last year the system was branded ‘disgraceful’ after Ron Barnes was denied an ambulance after collapsing in a Tamworth business. Mrs Wighton said she had not rung for sympathy and a free ride to the hospital.

“I was ringing for help. That’s what the ambulance is for and we got nothing. I just never expected that would happen to anyone,” she said.

Steve Pearce from the Paramedics Association said paramedics are always disappointed when not tasked to incidents.

“Because when we arrive, we can initiate treatment straight away. We can often allay a lot of distress and transport to the most appropriate facility and that takes a lot of pressure off families; mums and dads especially,” Mr Pearce said.

He said the Ambulance service was working towards what they need to do to improve the current system

 “We get feedback in the country towns, and sometimes it is disappointing and upsetting to them,” Mr Pearce.

“So anything that could improve this would be welcome as far as the association is concerned.”