Café posts improve 111 call-outs

St John ambulance. Photo / NZME.

A McDonald's restaurant and a chain coffee shop have become temporary ambulance stations in Auckland in a bid to respond quicker to 111 calls.

St John has parked ambulances at the McDonald's at Manurewa and the Columbus Coffee in Glen Eden since December as part of a trial for new deployment posts.

Paramedic crews can stay for 45 minutes before returning to their stations and receive a $10 allowance.

St John struggles to hit response targets in Auckland for the most life-threatening 111 calls, where it is meant to get to at least half of those emergencies inside eight minutes.

In particular, increasing numbers of callouts in Manurewa and Glen Eden meant St John cannot drive to those locations from existing ambulance stations within the deadline.

The temporary posts at the McDonald's and Columbus Coffee were established to see if closer deployment points will improve response times and performance in those areas, said St John's Auckland district operations manager Douglas Gallagher.

He said the percentage of urgent cases - coded red and purple - responded to within eight minutes increased from 50.8 to 59.4 per cent in Glen Eden and 47.2 to 58.7 per cent in Manurewa since the trial started in December. Overall, Auckland had improved from 50.8 to 57.4 per cent.