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Paramedics have described the death of an Adelaide man who waited 10 hours for an ambulance as tragic.
Eddie, 54, is the latest face of South Australia's ambulance crisis.
He called an ambulance on December 27 but when it eventually arrived he was dead.
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SA Ambulance Service chief executive Rob Elliot said there was "extremely high" triple zero demand on that night, as well as "significant" ramping of ambulances waiting outside hospitals.
"This is an absolutely tragic outcome," he said today.
"Our hearts go out to them and this is not the standard of service that we want."
Video from 10pm that night shows 17 ambulances stuck outside the Royal Adelaide Hospital alone.
Eddie was suffering from abdominal pain and vomiting, symptoms that should have seen him transported within the hour.
Ambulance crews stayed in contact throughout the evening. When he deteriorated, his case was elevated and help arrived within four minutes but it was too late.
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The Ambulance Employees Association today went public with the case, fearing more lives could be lost.
"When you call triple zero you expect an ambulance to arrive on time," AEA industrial officer Josh Karpowicz said
"And unfortunately in this case, 10 hours later, you've got family members or carers or whoever's looking after this patient waiting for help that never arrives and arrives too late."
The union argued significant ramping across all metropolitan Adelaide hospitals on the night was a factor in the 54-year-old's death.
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"Due to significant ramping, ambulances were stuck at hospitals instead of being available for the community," the union said.
"This led to long delays in ambulance responses, and by the time an ambulance arrived for this patient, he had passed away."
The state government vowed to fix the ramping crisis when it was elected almost two years ago but the union said that pledge hadn't been fulfilled.
Karpowicz said there were more than 50 cases pending across the city on December 27.
"This tragic death is a stark reminder that when ambulances are ramped at hospitals, patients waiting for help in the community are left without care for unacceptably and dangerously long periods of time," he said.
"Ramping takes ambulances off-road and puts patients at risk of deterioration in an environment where there is no one available to help them."
SA Health this afternoon released data showing a reduction in the number of hours ambulances were stuck waiting outside hospitals
Ambulances lost 3595 hours waiting in December, down from November's record high of 4285.
Three-quarters of priority-one patients arrived within eight minutes, surpassing the service's 60 per cent target.
But priority two targets were missed again by a wide margin, with only 65 per cent arriving within 60 minutes, way off SA Ambulance's 90 per cent target.
Elliot said there had been a "very significant improvement" among the highest priority cases but described Eddie's case as "an exceptionally long delay that we hope in the future will not reoccur".
SA Health has been contacted for comment.
The service provider of the Hectorville care home where Eddie was living declined to comment today.
Flowers and a picture were left outside in a tribute after his death.
The union provided details of the incident to health authorities, who are undertaking a clinical review into claims that ramped ambulances are being prioritised into hospital EDs over waiting room patients.
