Pressure on St John's staff, active Covid cases to reach 100,000 mark, Russian forces attack Ukraine, U.N. representatives walk out on Lavrov and UK government offers scheme to help Ukrainians. Video / NZ Herald
St John Ambulance staff are being "slammed" by a record number of callouts, with more than 10,000 incidents responded to in the Bay of Plenty between January and April alone.
Nationally, the service has seen an increase of more than 35,000 calls for help compared with before the pandemic.
Falls,traumatic back injuries, chest pain and breathing problems accounted for the majority of callouts.
St John Ambulance Rotorua support manager Janeen Whitmore said the past few months were the busiest she's ever experienced.
Whitmore had been a St John paramedic for 15 years and had worked with the service for 30 years.
"The workload's definitely gone above and beyond what it used to be," Whitmore told NZME.
St John Ambulance Rotorua support manager Janeen Whitmore. Photo / Andrew Warner
Between January and December 2021, St John responded to 29,467 calls for help across the Eastern and Western Bay of Plenty. This was about 2000 more calls than the year before.
This year, ambulance staff have already received 10,074 calls between January and April.
In the Rotorua/Lakes territory, the service responded to 13,507 calls in 2021, up 7.9 per cent from the previous year.
The number of incidents in the territory requiring emergency vehicle response in 2021 was 11,539, an increase of 6.4 per cent on 2020.
According to St John's 2021 national report, there were 581,958 emergency calls for an ambulance between June 2020 and June 2021.
This was up more than 35,000 calls compared with before the pandemic.
St John's national report also said 52 per cent of urban suspected cardiac and respiratory arrest incidents were responded to within six minutes.
It comes as Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced funding for 48 new ambulances and crew as part of Budget 2022.
The Crown also pledged $166 million in financial support over four years for extra emergency vehicles, with a further $90m for air ambulance services.
A St John spokesperson said the organisation was working through all the details of the budget announcement and what it would mean for the future of New Zealand's ambulance services.
"St John has faced unprecedented demand for ambulance services, especially over the last two years, as the impacts of Covid-19 have been felt across the country," the spokesperson said.
St John Ambulance services were not fully funded by the government. Contracts with the Ministry of Health, ACC and district health boards fund about 80 per cent of the organisation's direct operating costs.
Whitmore said the busiest shift she has had involved responding to 13 calls in the space of 12 hours.
"That's an out-of-the-park shift," Whitmore said.
"On average I'd say probably each truck in a 12-hour shift would respond to eight callouts."
St John Ambulance Rotorua staff at the opening of the service's new station in August. Photo / Andrew Warner
Whitmore said anxiety around Covid-19 was one key reason for the increase in callouts.
Pandemic-related rules also meant ambulance staff were responding to calls for assessment when patients couldn't get into their medical centres as easily as they used to pre-2020.
"Our job is to assess and make sure the patients feel they're going to be okay."
Whitmore said most ambulance staff were passionate about their work and didn't bat an eye before giving 110 per cent.
"I take my hat off to [them]."
Whitmore said the ambulance service's staff had access to peer support services to help them manage the strain of the job.
"We can also debrief after jobs and talk with our colleagues."
When asked what the public could do to help the service, Whitmore said kindness and patience would be appreciated by paramedics and other ambulance staff.
"It would also make our jobs easier for people to recognise that emergency services are for emergencies."
According to St John's data the highest number of calls for ambulances were classified as "referrals from health practitioners". In 2021, this category accounted for about 16 per cent of all callouts.
Fifth Avenue Medical Centre GP Dr Luke Bradford. Photo / NZME
Fifth Avenue Medical Centre GP Dr Luke Bradford said this category covered a range of situations from really bad asthma to abdominal or chest pains.
"Someone could come into the GP clinic and say they have chest pains. We'll do a [test] and decide that they might be having a heart attack.
"Then an ambulance would need to come and bring them to hospital because it just wouldn't be safe for them to drive on their own."
Bradford said ambulance callouts were made to ensure safe transportation of people to hospital.
"I think you'll find about half of the people who go to hospital would be admitted by their GP."
Emergency Department doctor and Australasian College for Emergency Medicine's first New Zealand president Dr John Bonning said St John is critical to emergency response. Photo / NZME
Waikato Emergency Department doctor and Australasian College for Emergency Medicine's board member Dr John Bonning said St John provided 90 per cent of New Zealand's non-aeromedical ambulance service.
"They're critical to our emergency response."
Bonning said there were multiple factors that could have led to the rise in emergency calls.
"Tough economic times can mean that people have a harder time accessing health services.
"I'll bet the cost of petrol will come into it now. Some people won't have a vehicle to take their family member to hospital."
Bonning said the solution was to provide patients with options.
"It's not about rationing health services. It's about giving people options through public education, different call lines, access to advice and the services they need."
