Pressure on St John's staff, active Covid cases to reach 100,000 mark, Russian forces attack Ukraine, U.N. representatives walk out on Lavrov and UK government offers scheme to help Ukrainians. Video / NZ Herald
St John Ambulance staff are being "slammed" by a record number of callouts, with more than 5000 incidents being responded to in the Rotorua Lakes region between January and April alone.
Nationally, the service has seen an increase of more than 35,000 calls for help compared with before the pandemic.
Falls, traumatic back injuries, chest pain and breathing problems accounted for the majority of callouts.
St John Ambulance Rotorua support manager Janeen Whitmore said the past few months were the busiest she's seen.
Whitmore had been a St John paramedic for 15 years and had worked with the service for 30 years.
"The workload's definitely gone above and beyond what it used to be," Whitmore told NZME.
St John Ambulance Rotorua support manager Janeen Whitmore. Photo / Andrew Warner
In 2021, St John responded to 13,507 calls for help across the Rotorua Lakes District Health Board area. This was close to 1000 or 7.9 per cent more calls than the year before.
This year, ambulance staff have already received 5265 calls between January and April.
The number of incidents in the territory requiring emergency vehicle response in 2021 was 11,539, an increase of 6.4 per cent on 2020.
According to St John's 2021 national report, there were 581,958 emergency calls for an ambulance between June 2020 and June 2021.
This was up more than 35,000 calls compared with before the pandemic.
St John's national report also said 52 per cent of urban suspected cardiac and respiratory arrest incidents were responded to within six minutes.
It comes as Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced funding for 48 new ambulances and crew as part of Budget 2022.
The Crown also pledged $166 million in financial support over four years for extra emergency vehicles, with a further $90m for air ambulance services.
A St John spokesperson said the organisation was working through all the details of the Budget announcement and what it would mean for the future of New Zealand's ambulance services.
"St John has faced unprecedented demand for ambulance services, especially over the last two years, as the impacts of Covid-19 have been felt across the country," the spokesperson said.
St John Ambulance services are not fully funded by the government. Contracts with the Ministry of Health, ACC and District Health Boards fund approximately 80 per cent of the organisation's direct operating costs.
Whitmore said the busiest shift she has had involved responding to 13 calls in the space of 12 hours.
"That's an out of the park shift," Whitmore said.
"On average I'd say probably each truck in a 12-hour shift would respond to eight callouts."
St John Ambulance Rotorua staff at the opening of the service's new station in August 2021. Photo / Andrew Warner
Whitmore said anxiety around Covid-19 was one key reason for the increase in callouts.
Pandemic-related rules also meant ambulance staff were responding to calls for assessment when patients couldn't get into their medical centres as easily as they used to pre-2020.
"Our job is to assess and make sure the patients feel they're going to be okay."
Whitmore said most ambulance staff were passionate about their work and didn't bat an eye before giving 110 per cent.
"I take my hat off to [them]."
Whitmore said the ambulance service's staff had access to peer support services to help them manage the strain of the job.
"We can also debrief after jobs and talk with our colleagues."
When asked what the public could do to help the service, Whitmore said kindness and patience would be appreciated by paramedics and other ambulance staff.
"It would also make our jobs easier for people to recognise that emergency services are for emergencies."
St John Lakes Central East area operations manager George Cliquot. Photo / Supplied
St John Lakes Central East area operations manager George Cliquot said the service would continue to be there for all New Zealanders despite the ongoing challenges and pressures Covid-19 has had and continues to have on the health system.
"[The pandemic] has placed significant pressure on our health system including here in Lakes, especially for the 2021 period.
"We expect a similar effect for the first half of this year."
Cliquot said the past two years had been "a particularly tough time" for frontline ambulance officers with high demand and the additional pressure and fatigue associated with the virus.
"Our people have done an amazing job and continue to do tremendous work every day and we are incredibly grateful to them for their ongoing dedication and commitment to being there for New Zealanders.
"While it appears Covid-19 is now endemic, we are still experiencing high call volumes and demand on the ambulance service and expect this to continue as we head into the peak of the winter cold and flu season."
Emergency Department doctor and Australasian College for Emergency Medicine's first New Zealand president Dr John Bonning says St John is critical to emergency response. Photo / NZME
Waikato Emergency Department doctor and Australasian College for Emergency Medicine's board member Dr John Bonning said St John provided 90 per cent of New Zealand's non-aeromedical ambulance service.
"They're critical to our emergency response."
Bonning said there were multiple factors that could have led to the rise in emergency calls.
"Tough economic times can mean that people have a harder time accessing health services.
"I'll bet the cost of petrol will come into it now. Some people won't have a vehicle to take their family member to hospital."
Bonning said the solution was to provide patients with options.
"It's not about rationing health services. It's about giving people options through public education, different call lines, access to advice and the services they need."
