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St John has apologised after sending an ambulance on a 24-minute journey to a fatal heart attack, rather than calling in fully trained local firefighters.
Communications centre manager Sara Lewis said the Cooks Beach volunteer fire crew should have been sent earlier to treat a 65-year-old who collapsed at the Coromandel holiday spot.
"This was a human error for which St John unreservedly apologises," she said. "The necessary follow-up action has been taken in respect of the importance of the Fire Service co-response capability."
The man suffered cardiac arrest while walking with his wife in the small township near Whitianga, soon after 9pm on Thursday. But instead of alerting local firefighters trained to use lifesaving equipment, the 111 operator sent an ambulance from Hahei, more than 10km away. It took 24 minutes to arrive. Cooks Beach firefighters were finally scrambled 13 minutes later and arrived before the ambulance.
The death has angered locals who arranged a community meeting to discuss the issue last night.
"It's killing our people," said one Cooks Beach resident who wanted to remain anonymous. "We've been agitating about this for ages, we knew someone would die. We told St John and now it's happened."
Until 12 months ago, the local fire brigade attended medical emergencies in Hahei and Cooks Beach and treated patients until an ambulance arrived from Tairua - a 40-minute drive away.
Mercury Bay Ratepayers Association spokesman Toby Morcom said locals rejoiced when St John announced last year an ambulance would be shared between Hahei and Cooks Beach. But they were alarmed when they learned firefighters would no longer be called.
"There's been a lot of angst over this," Morcom said. "So why weren't the Fire Service called? They have oxygen, defibrillators, all the gear. They might have saved this bloke."
Cooks Beach fire chief Alan Mills declined to comment. But National MP for Coromandel Sandra Goudie said St John's decision was shortsighted, especially over summer when the area was inundated with holidaymakers.
"Rural communities constantly struggle with how to deal with medical emergencies. It's patently ridiculous to have dropped the volunteer brigades off that call."
Parliament is investigating the performance of St John, which wants its Government funding doubled to $150 million over the next eight years.
Chief executive Jaimes Wood told a parliamentary health committee inquiry in October that an extra 400 paid frontline officers were needed.
John Stretton, a Wanganui paramedic and past president of the Ambulance Association, told the inquiry the service was in chaos. Splitting emergency and non-emergency responsibilities would be an improvement, said Stretton. He suggested putting emergency services under the Fire Service, which had better communications.
St John has a memorandum of understanding with the Fire Service to provide backup cover. But more firefighters are attending medical emergencies with only basic first aid training. Since 2003 there has been a 47 per cent increase in the number of medical emergencies the Fire Service attends.
The United Fire Brigades Association outlined its concerns in a submission to the parliamentary inquiry. "Ambulance operations should be geared to efficiently cater for most emergencies without reliance on a fire brigade to respond instead of, or as well as, an ambulance," it said.
