Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

St John callouts spiral

By Imran Ali
Northern Advocate·
4 Jan, 2013 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Northlanders with minor ailments or injuries could be redirected to GPs as St John rethinks its allocation of resources in the region.

Record numbers of 111 calls have prompted a review of the St John service in Northland.

In the past five years, Northland's St John workload has risen by 10 per cent, compared with the national average of 4.4 per cent.

The service is considering providing more medical care for patients at home rather than transferring people to hospital emergency departments.

Northlanders with minor injuries or ailments could also be encouraged to see a GP rather than have an ambulance attend their accident/incident.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Northland St John boss Tony Devanney said his staff received about 1400 calls every month or about 17,000 a year - an increase of 50 per cent over the last five years. At that level of growth, he said, frontline St John Ambulance services and patient transfers were unsustainable.

The increase in demand on the service was partly due to people using St John as a "taxi service" for the treatment of minor injuries.

Paramedics have in the past arrived at Northland homes only to find people complaining of tummy aches, flu symptoms, runny noses and cut toes.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Devanney said someone seriously injured may need an ambulance straight away while his paramedics were tied up with these unnecessary calls.

"We are co-operatively working with the Northland DHB to find other options to help each other. One option is to use GP practices to receive minor injured or minor ailments under a Ministry of Health-funded scheme."

He said his paramedics could from this year write prescription for antibiotics, to temporarily treat patients until a GP became available. "Another aspect we need to explore is to encourage the public to use their GPs more and not inundate the ambulance service or hospital emergency departments.

"In the future we may look at other options available to the public from St John, as opposed to transporting them in an ambulance to the emergency departments."

He praised the work put in by his 330 volunteers in 19 stations throughout Northland.

His comments on cost-cutting followed those of Peter Bradley, the new chief executive of St John NZ, who warned that public expectations would need to change if it was to balance demand with a Ministry of Health directive to reduce emergency department presentations by 80,000 nationwide.

However Mr Bradley - the former head of the London Ambulance Service - said his main priority would be the patient, not the bottom line.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate
|Updated

'Will it take someone to die?': 85yo's fears after home demolished by airborne car

Northern Advocate

Far North homes without power after severe gales

Northern Advocate

'Economic growth is key': Luxon discusses Northland's potential with iwi


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

'Will it take someone to die?': 85yo's fears after home demolished by airborne car
Northern Advocate
|Updated

'Will it take someone to die?': 85yo's fears after home demolished by airborne car

A former occupant says it's the third time the house has been hit by a car

17 Jul 05:00 PM
Far North homes without power after severe gales
Northern Advocate

Far North homes without power after severe gales

17 Jul 08:26 AM
'Economic growth is key': Luxon discusses Northland's potential with iwi
Northern Advocate

'Economic growth is key': Luxon discusses Northland's potential with iwi

17 Jul 06:02 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP