MEDICAL experts say the delay in paramedics reaching batsman Phillip Hughes after he was hit in the head by a 135km/h bouncer may have been critical to his chances of survival.

Health Minister Jillian Skinner last night confirmed she would be meeting with the state’s ambulance commissioner following confirmation by NSW Ambulance that the first ambulance dispatched took 23 minutes to reach the SCG — despite the nearest ambulance station, at Paddington, being just 800m away.

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It was only after a second call was made for the unconscious and bloodied 25-year-old Test player, who last night remained in a medically induced coma with brain injuries, that another ambulance was dispatched. It arrived at the ground in just seven minutes, well ahead of the first ambulance.

In a farcical string of events yesterday, NSW Ambulance first claimed it had not received an emergency call for 14 minutes despite photos and TV footage showing frantic players involved in the Sheffield Shield match gesturing for a call to be made within minutes of Hughes pitching face forward into the turf, bleeding from the ears.

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Daily Telegraph reporter Ben Horne was at the SCG and said: “David Warner was signalling for an ambulance to be called and then sprinted to the boundary to make sure that message was delivered. NSW officials were running everywhere looking for help. Wicketkeeper Peter Nevill was standing out on Driver Ave in his whites looking for an ambulance.”

For 21 crucial minutes until the paramedics arrived treatment of Hughes was left in the hands of NSW team doctor John Orchard, who administered CPR after Hughes was stretchered to the boundary.

“Due to conflicting information distributed today by NSW Ambulance regarding yesterday’s response to the Sydney Cricket Ground, I will be meeting with NSW Ambulance Commissioner Ray Creen tomorrow to discuss the circumstances surrounding the incident,’’ Ms Skinner’s office said.

The SCG has recently been upgraded and one of the new defibrillators was used to treat Hughes. Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust communications director Phil Heads said: “SCG Trust staff followed the venue’s emergency management plan quickly, calmly and professionally, as did staff from Cricket NSW and the NSW Ambulance Service.”

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When the three ambulances arrived and were joined by a doctor on a NSW Ambulance helicopter, a tube was inserted to clear Hughes’s airway before he was finally driven to St Vincent’s Hospital, just 1.5km away. Hughes had been on the ground for 40 minutes.

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital neurosurgeon Dr Brindha Shivalingam said the delay could have been critical: “In general terms it is super important that the paramedics get there as quickly as possible, especially if there is swelling on the brain.”

She said the CPR was vital in keeping oxygen flowing to the brain but that, if there was swelling on the brain, the crucial role of paramedics was to get the patient to hospital as quickly as possible: “If there is a blood clot that has been created by an injury it will cause significant pressure on the brain, which is what causes death and injury.

“Unless that is relieved quickly your chances of recovery are slim.”

Hughes was scanned immediately on arrival at St Vincent’s and rushed in for surgery. He was then placed in intensive care in an induced coma.

Sports doctor Dr Peter ­Larkins said the spot Hughes was hit on the back of the neck was particularly ­vulnerable.

“The brain comes right down to the upper part of your neck so when you get a fracture with bleeding underneath it can cause enormous pressure to build up in the spinal canal and go up into the brain,” he said. “The danger to Phil Hughes would be a combination of bleeding into the upper part of the spinal cord from the fracture.”

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NSW Ambulance yesterday corrected its first claim that it had not received an emergency call from the SCG for 14 minutes: “NSW Ambulance wishes to clarify that two calls for a paramedic response to the SCG were received yesterday.”

The Sydney Cricket Ground’s records show the crucial first call was made at 2.29, just six minutes after Hughes was hit by the bouncer.

A second call was made from Dr Orchard and the team treating ­Hughes — at 2.37pm — and The Daily Telegraph understands that call ran for more than 20 minutes as the paramedics were kept updated.

NSW Ambulance failed to explain why the first ambulance took 23 minutes to arrive: “NSW Ambulance ­always tasks the closest available ­paramedic crew to all triple-O emergency calls regardless of the station at which their shift originates.’’

In its final version of events NSW Ambulance said: “The first triple-O call was made by Sydney Cricket Ground officials at 2.29pm — not at 2.37pm as initially stated by NSW Ambulance this morning. The closest available ambulance at that time was dispatched and it arrived at the ground at 2.52pm.

“The first ambulance to reach the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday was dispatched from Prince of Wales Hospital following a triple-O call from the NSW Cricket Association at 2.37pm. It arrived at 2.44pm and provided support to the team doctor who began treating the patient within seconds of the incident.”

Australasian College of Emergency Medicine president Anthony Cross said, despite the “incredible damage” a ball hitting the cerebellum at 145km/h would inflect, the CPR and hospital care he had ­received would have given Hughes the best possible chance of recovery.