New St John ambulance officers join the front line

St John media release

18 December 2009

New St John ambulance officers join the front line

34 new paid St John ambulance officers are joining the front line this month
Another 51 new paid St John ambulance officers will start work between January and June 2010
The additional ambulance officers are part of a package of targeted government funding
St John will still need to continue to raise funds to meet this year’s shortfall in its Ambulance operations funding of around $12 million, as well as to pay for all capital items such as ambulance vehicles and ambulance stations
In addition to this, St John requires funding for its community services.
 
The total of 85 new full-time or equivalent ambulance officer positions were announced by Health Minister Hon Tony Ryall in June, as part of a package of additional government funding over the next four years for the entire ambulance sector.  The funding is for specified initiatives.

“We are pleased that our recruitment was successful and that the first stage of appointees are starting work before Christmas,” St John Chief Executive Jaimes Wood said today.

The government funding is administered by the National Ambulance Sector Office (NASO) - a joint venture office between the Ministry of Health and ACC.  NASO requires that the 85 new St John positions be targeted at easing reliance on on-call rosters and increasing resources to double crew ambulances.

Mr Wood says St John decided where to appoint the first stage of new ambulance officers based on an analysis of need, demand and workload and to reflect the NASO requirements.  “The location of these appointments reflects where we can obtain the greatest benefits for patients and ambulance crews.  They are focussed on areas where we have a high reliance on on-call staff and a high rate of single crewing.”

Not every region serviced by St John will qualify for an additional paid ambulance officer or officers from this funding.  “We recognise that this is only a step to increase double crewing rates and reduce on-call responses, and that these 85 positions do not fill every need,” Mr Wood says.

The St John position is that all ambulances should be fully crewed and that on-call responses should only happen occasionally, to reduce pressure on ambulance officers and improve health and safety for both staff and patients.

St John sees the funding for the new positions as a positive step on the path to more appropriate funding levels for the ambulance sector.  St John works with communities to fundraise for the building of ambulance stations, the purchase of ambulances and other vehicles and equipment. St John also generates funds by earning revenue from health-related commercial services including first aid training courses. St John sources all funding for its community services.

New St John ambulance officers:  Quick facts

·        St John provides ambulance services to 85% of the population across 95% of the geography of the country.

·        The 85 new ambulance officer positions will take the total number of St John full-time paid ambulance personnel to about 985, working alongside more than 2,500 volunteer ambulance officers.

·        The 85 new positions are full-time or equivalent positions.  In practice this means that about 65 of the 85 extra positions are planned to be additional full-time ambulance officers, while about 20 of the new positions will provide leave, training and sickness cover for the full-time ambulance officers.

·        Of the 34 ambulance officers starting work before the end of 2009, 26 are permanent full-time appointments to selected ambulance stations around the country.  Eight of the 34 are full-time or equivalent positions providing relief cover during leave, training and sickness. Twenty-four of the 26 positions are in the North Island, based on the analysis of need, demand and workload.  While there are exceptions, generally speaking, the South Island overall has higher double crewing rates and lower levels of on-call staff.

·        Decisions on where the 51 full-time or equivalent ambulance officers will be located next year are yet to be confirmed.

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