St John is looking to cut down on how much it spends for commercial cleaning at its stations. Photo / Hato Hone St John
St John is looking to cut down on how much it spends for commercial cleaning at its stations. Photo / Hato Hone St John
St John ambulance staff will be forced to do more cleaning work if the organisation pushes ahead with plans to cut such costs at its stations, according to two unions representing ambulance workers.
Hato Hone St John has announced it plans to focus its commercial cleaning contracts from July 1on tasks that are not practical for its frontline people to do, “including window washing and deep cleans”.
Ambulance operations general manager Stuart Cockburn said the organisation spent $1.3 million a year on commercial cleaning, with the figure having increased significantly since the start of the Covid pandemic.
“In some cases this cleaning duplicates activities our frontline people already do, such as putting a dishwasher on, emptying rubbish bins and wiping a coffee table after a meal,” he said.
The NZ Ambulance Association said while some rural and provincial stations were seldom professionally cleaned, others – including those in Auckland – had been commercially cleaned for more than 30 years.
National secretary Mark Quin said the workload for ambulance staff had increased about 10% every year since Covid and now there is an expectation for them to clean the stations.
He said the workers already cleaned the ambulances, frequently missed breaks, and underwent additional training in their spare time.
“So it’s just another one they’re lumping on to the pressures of operating on the road as an ambulance officer or a paramedic or a patient transfer officer.”
St John said it hoped to redirect some of its spending on cleaning to areas such as building projects or buffering the impact of increased fuel costs.
“I’m not disagreeing with them, but don’t take it out of an area that is effectively affecting the conditions that ambulance officers work in and, effectively, is an important support service to them doing their job,” Quin said.
“Where is the funding from Health New Zealand to fill in the gap? You don’t see doctors and nurses cleaning up in the wards. They’ve got planners for it in the hospitals. So why should ambulance officers and paramedics have to do that?”
First Union's Anita Rosentreter says St John's money problems would be easily resolved if the Government fully funded it. Photo / Supplied
Workers First Union deputy secretary Anita Rosentreter feared the increased responsibility would ultimately delay emergency responses.
“The worst-case scenario is obviously going to be that, you know, you’re waiting for an ambulance officer to attend to you or your partner in a medical emergency and there’s a delay because they’re rubber gloved up and cleaning a toilet.”
Rosentreter said she understood the frequency of deep cleans at stations would be reduced to once every quarter.
She said it showed St John was in a dire situation which would be “quite easily resolved if [the Government] just funded the ambulance service 100%”.
“There shouldn’t be a question around whether or not they get to spend money on cleaning their toilets or repairing their buildings or paying the wages of their paramedics,” Rosentreter said.
Cockburn said St John was always looking for opportunities to ensure its spending was focused on frontline service delivery.
“We intend to work through an approach to this over the coming weeks, which involves discussion with union representatives.
“We recognise the demands on our people and any potential changes will sit within normal workflows, without impacting frontline response or patient care.”
Jordan Dunn is a multimedia reporter based in Auckland with a focus on crime, social issues, policing and local issues. He joined Newstalk ZB in 2024 from Radio New Zealand, where he started as an intern out of the New Zealand Broadcasting School.
