Neighbours of an elderly man who died after police were called to make a welfare check on him have shared their anger that emergency services took 19 hours to respond.
Fred Lucas called police about 5.40pm on Thursday, July 4, for a welfare check on his 85-year-old neighbour after he had not seen him for a number of days.
Almost 19 hours later, at 12.30pm on Friday July 5, police arrived at the 85-year-old man’s unit on William St in Bankstown.
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The man was still breathing when police arrived at his unit, but he was declared dead after CPR failed to save him.
Police say it’s too early to know if the 19-hour wait contributed to his death.
On the night of Thursday, July 11, a critical incident was declared.
Lucas told 7NEWS he called police to tell them he believed his neighbour had collapsed.
“I said, ‘He’s down’, and they say, ‘We’re busy at the moment, we’ll get out there as soon as possible’,” he said.
“They said they’re coming, but they’re busy.”
Meanwhile, another neighbour remembered the man as a “good friend”.
“I was worried, because I used to see him at least once or twice a week,” Monty Alhaffam told 7NEWS.
“It’s too slow…we don’t have enough police in NSW.”
At this stage, police do not believe there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding the man’s death, Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden told reporters.
“The information that we received from a neighbour was the (call to police) was a concern for welfare after the male on the premises hadn’t been seen for a couple of days,” he said.
“The circumstances, as I understand it, is that the gentleman lived on his own and had experienced some health issues recently, but the exact nature of those is unclear.
“As part of our investigation, we are reaching out to his family so that we can better understand the circumstances of this gentleman, but also the circumstances that resulted in our delay.”
‘Tragic circumstances’
McFadden said as part of the police investigation, they would look at the workload the command had at the time of the call and what priorities were given.
“The circumstances are tragic … but we want to understand whether it’s the time between the call and our response, if that was a factor in the circumstances of this man’s passing,” he said.
McFadden added the matter was of “significant concern”.
NSW Premier Chris Minns acknowledged the latest incident was a concern for police.
“We want to make sure that when people access triple-0 when they contact emergency services, they’re dispatched quickly,” he said.
“And if changes need to be made, (I’ve got) every confidence police will do that as soon as possible.”
Acting Police Minister Tara Moriarty agreed the public needed to have confidence that when they called emergency services, responders would attend.
NSW has been battling persistent shortages among police ranks, with about 1500 vacancies across the state.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
The investigation will be subject to an independent review by the Professional Standards Command and overseen by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
– With AAP