Are the days of 24/7 ambulances based in Te Kūiti numbered?
Round the clock St John coverage in Te Kūiti could be under threat. A union source says St John is considering moving staff now based in the Te Kūiti ambulance station north to Ōtorohanga or Te Awamutu. The claim comes from Mark Quin, the division chairman for the NZ Ambulance Association – a union representing 2000 ambulance officers and communications staff – who said he had been informed of it by members this week. His union members are already considering industrial action to address pay and conditions. St John area operations manager operations manager, Waitomo, Craig Scott, said there were no current proposals to close the Te Kūiti Ambulance Station. “Hato Hone St John remains committed to providing ambulance services in Te Kūiti and surrounding communities,” Scott said. But asked if St John would look at reducing the 24/7 service in Te Kūiti, another spokesperson refused to rule it out, adding: “St John is always looking at how it deploys ambulance resources to best meet the needs of local communities.” Any changes would be put out to public consultation before being made, the St John spokesperson said. Keith Buswell, of the Te Kūiti Medical Centre, had not been informed of any changes to ambulance services. “We know there are issues around recruiting staff who are willing to live in rural areas like Te Kūiti, but we would be very concerned if the regular ambulance service was removed from town. It would have a significant impact on response times from the ambulance and would compromise patient care.” Buswell said downward pressure on services due to recruiting staff to work in rural areas affected all medical staff, not just ambulance officers. “We have regular discussions with St John and we are aware of the issues they face and their attempts to improve and maintain the service.” Quin said transferring St John staff to the other two towns would mean there would no longer be a permanent 24/7 ambulance based in Te Kūiti. Te Kūiti people could have to rely on an ambulance coming from the Ōtorohanga or Te Awamutu stations. “As a union we are quite concerned as St John has not been covering ambulances and the crewing of ambulances when staff are sick or on annual leave,” Quin said. “We see this as a further reduction of services in the provincial and rural areas and not being able to guarantee an emergency medical service, day or night, within the contracted response times as set out by Health NZ in its contract with St John. Quin said it was getting harder to attract staff to rural areas and suggested St John’s response was to remove existing staff. St John was “unwilling to acknowledge or provide incentives to get staff” to work in rural areas. He said the idea of moving resources to larger towns was known as hubbing and It had been done overseas and elsewhere in New Zealand. One example was Turangi, which was now covered from Taupō. “The irony is that overseas ambulance providers are now changing their approach, by moving services back to smaller centres.”
