Ambulance sorry for Taupo delays

St John Ambulance has apologised for delays in reaching a drowning man near Taupo on the weekend.

It has now launched an investigation into a call centre error which resulted in the ambulance taking a total of 22 minutes to get to the scene, The Dominion Post reported.

Student Benjamin Lucas, 20, from Kinleith, near Tokoroa, got into difficulty while swimming about half a mile upstream from the Huka Lodge, on Sunday and was pulled from the water by his friend Daniel Morris who called emergency services.

Mr Morris said that when the ambulance arrived, it went to opposite bank of the river.

When it arrived on the right side, bolt cutters were needed to break through a lock on a fence.

It took the ambulance 22 minutes in total to reach the scene.

But Taupo St John manager Graeme Harvey said on Tuesday the ambulance was only two or three minutes longer than it would have been if it had arrived at the right place at the river.

He said there was no delay because one of the paramedics had a fully equipped mountain bike and rode to Mr Lucas.

However, yesterday St John admitted that a call centre error, a stop by the paramedics to pick up the mountain bike and a pause in breaking through the locked gate led to a delay in the ambulance arriving.

St John Ambulance Emergency Communications call centre spokesman Simon Bird said the call centre taker was told the patient was near Spa Park Reserve and about one kilometre along the Huka Falls walking track.

By the time they had discovered which side of the river Mr Lucas was on and the ambulance was re-routed, there was still confusion over which end of the river he was at, Mr Bird said.

An initial review of the incident indicated a delay in reaching Spa Park Reserve was due to call-taker error, Mr Bird said.

"We apologise unreservedly for this to Benjamin Lucas' family."

A full investigation into the error was being launched, he said.

- NZPA