Ambulances are receiving a record number of callouts in Auckland amid the growing Omicron outbreak, with some people waiting up to 12 hours for crews to arrive.
St John clinical director Dr Tony Smith said each day they were receiving about 100 calls directly related to Covid.
"We know thatthere are also a large number of people who call with something else, like chest pain, and don't know they have Covid until they get tested either in the ambulance or emergency department."
At some emergency departments up to 25 per cent of patients were testing positive for Covid, Smith said.
He said they were also seeing a significant number of people battling mental health conditions from the stress of Omicron.
"Nationwide we have seen our workload go up by about 10 per cent and this has been disproportionate in Auckland where the workload has gone up by over 20 per cent and we are now seeing record numbers of Aucklanders seeking an ambulance."
Smith said the longest delay for someone in a non-life-threatening condition over the past few days had been more than 12 hours.
"We currently have got about 150 a day whose condition is not life-threatening but is serious where the delay is over an hour."
Daily calls had risen from 1700-1800 to more than 2000, with 500 of those requiring an ambulance - up from 400 on average.
St John clinical director, Dr Tony Smith on the impact of the Omicron outbreak on New Zealand's emergency ambulance service. Photo / File
Smith said demand had been even more challenging with the reduction of staff available. Currently, there were about 100 staff off work with Covid or self-isolating - about 70 were based in Auckland.
Extra staff were being flown in from across the country to help combat the "unprecedented demand" Auckland ambulance crews were facing.
He said ambulances would always get to people with immediately life-threatening conditions, but even "a small handful" of people needing urgent care were seeing delays of up to an hour.
He urged anyone who did not have an emergency not to call 111. People who were not in a life-threatening condition should expect delays, Smith said.
St John would "make the delay as safe as we can make it", Smith said. Where there was a delay, a paramedic or nurse would give advice on help to the patient, such as giving CPR or dealing with bleeding.
In Auckland, there were 40 job vacancies. Smith said they were confident they would be filled in six to 10 weeks but were anticipating the workload to peak in six to nine weeks.
"We are experiencing the highest number of calls and the highest number of people needing an ambulance that I've seen in 24 years I've been with St John."
Last month, the Herald revealed St John was investigating whether slow ambulance response contributed negatively to patient outcomes in 19 callouts this year. Two of those involved Auckland callouts where patients died at the scene.
At the time, First Union ambulance co-ordinator Faye McCann was not convinced St John was ready to deal with the Omicron outbreak.
However, St John deputy chief executive of ambulance operations Dan Ohs said, in January, the charity had plans in place to deal with Omicron demand - including getting an additional 14 ambulances on the road: eight in Auckland and six around the rest of the country.
That would help cope with the surge in demand and be a bolster for any sickness among staff, he said.
Finding staff proved to be challenging - at the time, there were 150 frontline vacancies across the country, an 11 per cent vacancy rate for the organisation.
Ohs said that was higher than the usual 7 per cent vacancy rate, but St John was getting ambulances out the door to targeted levels 97 per cent of the time.
A big recruitment campaign was underway and Ohs said the Government was putting millions of dollars into helping St John cover the costs, including an intensive training course which would see 64 new staff graduate in March.
In January, Health Minister Andrew Little said in a statement that officials were working closely with St John, Wellington Free Ambulance and air ambulance providers to ensure that surge planning for Omicron was well supported.
