The parents of an Illawong boy are demanding answers after it took 20 minutes to deploy an ambulance after their four-year-old son was bitten by a funnel-web spider.
At around 8.30pm on Thursday, November 30, Liam was with his mum in his brother’s room when he let out a huge scream from under the bed.
Liam's mum said she knew instantly something was wrong.
“He kept screaming and saying a spider bit me,’’ she said.
Liam's father spotted the spider and quickly identified it as a funnel-web.
Liam’s mum first rang triple-0 at 8.32pm, just after the incident, to say her son had been bitten by a spider.
She said the call-taker did not ask what kind of spider it was or ask for any other descriptions of the spider to identify what kind it was.
“I was in shock. We weren’t thinking clearly of what questions were needed to be asked,’’ she said.
“I think that was a massive fault on their behalf.’’
They assumed the ambulance was on the way but called back at around 8.44pm when his condition worsened.
At this point his hand was swelling up, he complained his lips and feet were starting to get spiky, he started vomiting, severely sweating and salivating, and struggling to breathe.
Liam's father said his son went downhill within minutes.
“It happened really quickly to the point where he couldn’t breathe,’’ he said.
They made another call at 8.50pm when the ambulance still hadn’t arrived.
By this time, Liam's father and Liam were outside waiting for the paramedics.
At this point the call-taker advised to bandage the bite area.
“It should have been done back at the first call,’’ Liam's mum said.
“I’ve done first aid courses but when you are in complete shock, you need someone to still walk you through it. We’re relying on them to not just ask the next question but to monitor.''
It was only during the third call that the couple realised that an ambulance hadn’t been deployed yet.
“We just couldn’t believe it,’’ she said.
“When my husband put him down so I could bandage his arm, he told me he felt like he was laying him down to die.
“It was very traumatic.’’
After the third phone call an ambulance was sent and the couple packed their son into the car to meet paramedics at Menai.
During this time they made a fourth call to see exactly where the ambulance was.
They met the ambulance near Bradman Road, Menai at 9.04pm.
Liam was then rushed to St George Hospital where he was given four doses of anti-venom.
Liam's mother still gets upset when she describes the moment the decision was made to put him into an induced coma.
“He had tubes everywhere and in areas a four-year-old shouldn’t have,’’ she said.
“It was terrifying. The adrenaline was pumping, it was very confronting to see.''
Later that night Liam was transferred to Randwick Children’s Hospital where they waited anxiously to see whether he would suffer any long-lasting damage.
Luckily, he was given the all-clear and returned home on Saturday – two days later.
The family said the whole experience was traumatic and are calling for improvements to be made to the way emergency calls are handled.
“I just feel let down,’’ Liam's mother said.
“We were told by the doctors that it was our decision to drive to find the ambulance that saved his life.
“I need to know changes will be made. I hope it serves as a huge wake-up call to NSW Ambulance.’’
They said changes urgently needed to be made to ensure no other family goes through what they went through.
Liam's mum said more training needs to be done for call-takers and specifically including questioning about spiders.
She also wanted a service that would see a motorcycle deliver anti-venom to the ambulance in cases like this to allow a greater time to administer it.
A NSW Ambulance spokesman confirmed that four calls had been made but said the incident was correctly assessed as requiring an ambulance response within 60 minutes based on information given in the initial call.
“The priority of the incident was upgraded during the third call at 8.50pm due to a deterioration in the patient’s condition,’’ he said.
“An ambulance was assigned within four minutes of the incident upgrade, arriving on scene at 9.03pm.’’
“NSW Ambulance has been in contact with the family to address their concerns.’’
He said NSW Ambulance uses the Medical Priority Dispatch System that has been used around the world since 1991.
Australian Reptile Park reptile keeper Jake Meney said peak funnel-web season is between October and March.
“Each funnel-web season, which falls within the warmest months of the year we see quite a number of funnel-web spider bites, particularly from males because they leave their burrows in search of females,’’ he said.
“The bite of a male funnel-web spider is an extremely serious medical emergency. The venom is a fast acting neurotoxin which affects the central nervous system.
“In total there has been 13 deaths attributed to the funnel-web spider but we have not seen a single death since 1980 when the anti-venom was developed and administered to hospitals.’’