ACC ambulance strategy revealed despite criticism

The doomed national air ambulance strategy was unveiled publicly the day after the Health Ministry condemned the document as "fundamentally flawed".

Documents released under the Official Information Act show that ACC pressed ahead with releasing the draft strategy despite the ministry's concern over a lack of analysis.

The public submission process was abandoned in January after an outcry from communities upset that their rescue helicopters were under threat.

But comments by ministry service analysis manager Stuart Powell suggest the strategy should have been abandoned sooner.

"The [strategy] is fundamentally flawed in that it concentrates on the well-serviced urban areas and does not provide funding solutions for remote rural areas," he said on December 1 last year.

"There is no costing analysis in the report and no work done to show that the proposed model is robust in terms of geography or climate."

Rangitikei MP Simon Power, who obtained the documents, said it was not prudent for ACC to release the strategy when the ministry had advised against it.

"It just seems to me that a large part of the Palmerston North, Manawatu and Rangitikei area were put through a painful and unnecessary process when it was clear ... that the Ministry of Health believed there was no basis to progress it.

"Some determined bureaucrat at ACC pushed on regardless."

ACC said yesterday it had released the draft strategy for public consultation on December 2 after rewriting some of the content.

"ACC understood that the Ministry of Health ... supported its release for further consultation."

- NZPA