A senior St John ambulance officer has been accused of giving deliberately misleading information about single- crewing of ambulances, which is said to be putting lives at risk.
National Distribution Union branch manager Neil Chapman says up to 70 percent of ambulance callouts in Gisborne are attended by a single crew member.
This is in response to claims made by Midland regional operations manager Brent Neilsen that Gisborne’s rate of single-crewing in ambulances matches that of the national average, at less than 20 percent.
"That is an absolute urban myth," Mr Chapman says.
"Those results are skewed due to the high volume of double-crewing in large centres like the Auckland metro area. In regional areas like Gisborne, it is much more than that."
In Gisborne, most callouts occurring during business hours are double-crewed, but night-time callouts are predominantly single-crewed, Mr Chapman says.
"This is definitely a concern that needs to be addressed," he says.
The situation is about to get worse, with permanent staffing levels dropping from 10 staff to nine before the end of the month, Mr Chapman says.
St John Gisborne area manager Shane Clapperton says he is not at all happy with single-crewing in any situation.
"We never want vehicles leaving single-crewed for a job, due to staff safety and patient care.
St John chief operations officer Kevin Tate acknowledges regional variations to the national statistic and says single-crewing always occurs due to a shortage of available staff.
"On the occasions that we single-crew, we have only one ambulance officer available in that area at that time. There can be several reasons for this and it is never a matter of choice," Mr Tate says.
"We rely on a combination of paid staff and volunteers to crew our ambulances within available funding.
"The most common reason for single-crewing is that, in a number of locations, we rely on a volunteer to be the second crew member.
Mr Clapperton says it is an ongoing process to recruit volunteer ambulance staff to fill shifts on the Gisborne roster.
"However, voluntary staff are exactly that — voluntary — and it is always difficult to recruit and retain a full complement of voluntary staff."
A new report from the New Zealand Ambulance Association says many patients have suffered as a result of single-crewing, and ambulance officers are also far more vulnerable in dangerous situations, Green Health spokeswoman Sue Kedgley says.
"Many aspects of an ambulance officer’s job cannot be handled alone, from performing CPR to lifting an immobile patient on
to a stretcher and into the ambulance, and it is putting
people’s lives at risk to send single-crewed ambulances to emergencies.
"Officers are turning up to car crashes and heart attack victims on their own, and staff are being forced to choose between tending a patient or driving.
"Ambulance officers tell of repeatedly stopping
en route to hospital, losing valuable time in the process, to monitor patients and administer treatments," Ms Kedgley says.
However Mr Tate says in circumstances where single-crewed responses do occur, most take place without incident, with the patient treated or stabilised by the ambulance officer before being transported to hospital.
"The St John position is clear — all emergency ambulance calls should be responded to by a vehicle with two ambulance officers," he says.
"Full-time ambulance officers are allocated throughout the country, based on available funding, an assessment of comparative workloads and local factors."
