Michelle Fyfe: St John WA chief resigns amid deaths of at least of three patients

St John WA boss Michelle Fyfe has resigned following months of intense scrutiny of her running of the State’s ambulance service – and the deaths of at least three West Australians while waiting for paramedics. Record levels of ambulance ramping – a result of overcrowded hospitals – and the arrival of COVID into WA placed unprecedented pressure on St John but the not-for-profit’s response has raised multiple questions. While steadfastly insisting she remained the best person to lead St John, Ms Fyfe did not deny reports she applied for the position of WA Police Commissioner in the midst of the ambulance crisis. Her decision to fall on her sword comes a fortnight after St John WA chair Shayne Leslie threw his support behind Ms Fyfe, declaring he remained confident the board had “the right people at the helm”. On Tuesday evening Mr Leslie confirmed Ms Fyfe would depart on July 12. “We have agreed that now is the time for new leadership, fresh eyes and renewed energy to take the organisation forward,” Mr Leslie said. “Over the past four years Ms Fyfe has led St John through the COVID pandemic and a challenging period of growth and change in the demand for our services. “We appreciate her hard work and commitment to St John during this period, including her leadership of key transformation and innovation initiatives. “Ms Fyfe was due to finish her contract in October this year but has opted to step aside earlier to allow new leadership to bring fresh energy and solutions for the next phase of St John’s critical service to the WA community.” Ms Fyfe said the past four years had been fulfilling but had taken their toll. “It has been an honour to lead St John WA and I am proud of what we achieved during a period of unprecedented challenge. However, the organisation needs new energy to take it forward,” she said. “I have missed many precious moments with my family and I am now looking forward to some time off to spend with my husband, children and grandchildren before embarking on my next challenge.” St John chief operating officer Antony Smithson will assume the role of acting CEO while the board undertakes a global search for a replacement for Ms Fyfe. On April 19, the son of 80-year-old Geraldton woman Joan Hope dialled triple-0 because his mother was having difficulty breathing – and was by her side as she deteriorated over the next half hour waiting for St John to arrive. The West revealed St John issued an “instant call back” looking for off duty paramedics in Geraldton who were available to respond – but then knocked back an overtime request when two medicos put up their hands. Then, in the early hours of May 15, Perth grandmother Georgina Wild, also 80, called triple-0 complaining of chest pains but paramedics did not arrive until more than two hours later, finding her lifeless on the couch of her Ashby home. The West subsequently revealed St John had a qualified paramedic stationed at Joondalup Health Campus at the time but never deployed them, despite being just a 10-minute drive away. That same day another Perth man in his 80s died after calling St John with abdominal pain and being categorised a priority three patient, which carries a maximum waiting time of one hour. He was still waiting when St John called back to conduct a welfare check nearly two hours later, at which point he was suffering severe chest pain and was upgraded to priority one. Paramedics arrived five minutes later at the man’s Bellevue residence but he suffered a heart attack and died before arriving at hospital. The spate of deaths prompted an unprecedented intervention by the McGowan Government, which embedded two senior police and two senior health department officials into St John’s operations centre. Following the move, St John finally fully activated critical worker protocols to allow paramedics exposed to COVID but who test negative to rapid tests on a daily basis to continue working. Nearly 50 first-aid qualified career firefighters were also trained to drive ambulances and have been called upon to pair up with paramedics at times when St John finds itself short-staffed at times of high demand. It was last week revealed in Parliament that police had been dispatched in place of ambulances 23 times since May 23, in a further sign of the pressure St John was facing.