The family of an elderly woman who broke her pelvis 12 days ago have raised questions about her care after she was transported between hospitals in a taxi.
When Helen Watson was first injured she spent more than two hours stuck in an ambulance ramping at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH), waiting for a bed.
"That's a really long time when you are in a lot of pain, you don't know what's going on and you know, being her age, she's confused by those sorts of things," her granddaughter Melanie Lavis told 9News.
Lavis said her 94-year-old grandmother was well cared for at the RAH, but then yesterday she received a phone call from her dad.
"Dad called me at about five o'clock yesterday and said that they had moved Grandma to Modbury Hospital and that they had done that in a taxi," she said.
The journey was half an hour long, and Watson had to sit upright, without a nurse for the entire cab ride.
"In a cab, without a nurse in there, in pain ... it just doesn't sit right," her granddaughter said.
Today the health minister looked at the case, and later told 9News Watson was not transported in an ambulance because staff didn't deem it necessary.
"The report that I've had from SA Health at this stage is that that was a decision made by the clinicians, by the doctors and nurses based on their assessment of the patient," Chris Picton said.
However Lavis disagreed, saying the staff were well aware of the pain her grandmother was in, and she doesn't believe they would have sent her off in a taxi if more ambulances were available.
"The first time they tried to sit her up a week ago she passed out from the pain," Lavis said.
"Obviously, the resources are just so tight that they're making decisions that are wrong.
"I think it's horrible something has to change."
The opposition said the incident was a result of the worsening ramping crisis.
"South Australians are sick and tired of the excuses," Ashton Hurn said.
"They want the government to roll up their sleeves and fix what they promised."
