A Perth family is demanding answers after an 80-year-old grandmother fell victim to WA’s health crisis.

Georgina Wild died alone from a suspected heart attack while waiting two-and-a-half hours for an ambulance to arrive.

A message was left on her answering machine by the St John Ambulance call centre, but she had already died.

St John WA CEO Michelle Fyfe told Gareth Parker on 6PR Breakfast the situation over the weekend meant they were under incredible stress.

“The simple fact of the matter is, all of our available staff were tied up either at hospitals or on jobs,” she said on Tuesday.

St John said an independent clinical inquiry into Ms Wild’s death had commenced.

Press PLAY below to hear the full interview with Michelle Fyfe on Breakfast.

Ms Wild first called triple zero at 2.30am Sunday complaining of chest pains. The job was flagged as Priority 1, meaning an ambulance should arrive within 15 minutes.

Half an hour later, the call centre rang her for a welfare check, while advising there were no ambulances available.

She was told the same at 3.30am. Then at 4am, she didn’t answer.

A message left on her answering machine from the St John Ambulance call centre said they were “just calling to check in”.

Almost two-and-a-half hours after she raised the alarm, an ambulance finally arrived.

When paramedics entered the Ashby home, in Perth’s north, they found the grandmother on her couch, her television still on and the front door unlocked.

She was declared dead from a suspected heart attack.

St John Ambulance warned of delays to triple zero calls due to high demand and COVID-sparked crew shortages of 20 per cent.

A third of Priority 1 patients were forced to wait more than 15 minutes for help.

A United Workers Union survey of paramedics conducted in early February — just as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was taking off — found 76 per cent weren’t confident of maintaining adequate service, and 92 per cent had no confidence in the CEO.

They called for ambulances to become state-run.

Wild’s death came as COVID-19 hospitalisations exceeded 300 in WA for the first time, with doctors predicting the health system will crumble in the next two weeks.