One-arm bandits spin for St John

By TOM CLARKE

Auckland's traffic woes are adding to St John Ambulance's operating and cost difficulties and it is increasingly looking to gamblers to help it pay its way.

David Turner, who has just joined St John Ambulance northern region as director of finance and corporate services, says the traffic snarl-ups are one of the reasons for the organisation's financial struggle.

"The difficulties inherent in Auckland in moving vehicles around, especially in peak-time traffic, means slowed up response times. That means we've got to have more vehicles on the road at any given period and all these sorts of things add cost," he says.

"St John spends a lot of time evaluating, for example, the best location of ambulances vis-a-vis their catchment area, because obviously the further away they are, the longer it takes to get to where they need to be, especially in rush-hour traffic."

Mr Turner says St John Ambulance has to constantly review and plan for problems such as gridlocked traffic. It operates a sophisticated computer monitoring system linked to its ambulance dispatch system, which measures and analyses response rates.

It is able to get to a patient within eight minutes in 74 per cent of "priority one" emergency call outs, he says.

Poker machines are augmenting its traditional sources of money from the Health Funding Authority, the Accident Compensation Corporation and private benefactors. St John now runs its own trust which has gambling machines in different locations.

Mr Turner says he is unable to give detailed information on this and doubts the organisation would "want to put that information out in the market place."

He says St John benefits by providing its own gaming machines instead of being the recipient of someone else's charity. "I suppose you would say it's about cutting out the middle-man," he says. "It puts us in the driver's seat so we're in the right position to ensure the maximum amount of benefit."

Last financial year the northern region had an operating surplus of $700,000, but its revenue from donations was $1.9 million. Without this, it would have operated at a loss, Mr Turner says.

Mr Turner has an accounting background and joins St John from the office of the Health and Disability Commissioner.