Impaled and left hanging for 47 minutes

SYDNEY - A woman who impaled herself on a fence post had to wait in agony for 47 minutes before an ambulance arrived because no local paramedic was on duty that night.

The accident occurred while Kim Broadbent, 34, was trying to scale a pool fence at a friend's house in her home town of Yarrawonga, Victoria, 280km north of Melbourne, on Tuesday.

Speared through the groin, she endured the wait without pain relief, slipping in and out of consciousness, with emergency workers supporting her body.

Her friends called an ambulance at 9.42pm but with no paramedic on duty in the town of 5727 people, a crew had to be sent from Wangaratta, 55km away. Refused permission to break the speed limit, or to use lights and sirens, it arrived in Yarrawonga at 10.29.

Fortunately for Broadbent, no vital organs had been damaged, and she was in a stable condition yesterday.

But her furious mother, Heather, lambasted the ambulance service, and the Victorian Health Minister, Daniel Andrews, saying the service was unacceptable.

Heather Broadbent told Radio 3AW that her daughter was left hanging in agony. "She could have died on that fence," she said.

"It shouldn't have happened."

The fire brigade and police arrived promptly at the house, where Kim Broadbent had tried to jump the fence after waiting in vain for her friend to open the locked gate.

But they were afraid to move her for fear of causing further harm, and merely placed a box under her feet to support her weight.

"They said they couldn't do anything [until the ambulance arrived]," Heather Broadbent said. "They weren't allowed to [give her any pain relief]."

Her daughter was eventually airlifted to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, arriving about three hours after the first emergency call.

A section of fence, which had exited through her stomach, was still lodged inside her. However, the hospital said she was expected to make a full recovery.

Andrews apologised to her, and said it was unacceptable that no professional paramedic had been on call. A graduate ambulance officer was reportedly refused permission to attend. Tony Walker, Ambulance Victoria's general manager of operations, said that "clearly ... the response should have been lights and sirens".