Source: First Union
St John ambulance officers remain in the dark regarding the political failure between National and NZ First to fulfil their coalition agreement pledge to improve funding for ambulance services, and are outlining fresh strike action that takes effect today while cautioning that the impact of underfunding St John is increasingly being felt across a number of related agencies like medical centres, hospitals and police.
Faye McCann, FIRST Union National coordinator for ambulance service, said neither unions nor the wider public had yet received any explanation or further information on why St John’s ambulance service funding had been frozen in Budget 2024/25 and NZ First’s coalition agreement pledge to “Renegotiate the Crown funding agreement with St John with a view to meeting a greater portion of their annualised budget” had failed when the service was in desperate need of support.
“The flow-on effect of St John’s continued underfunding is already being felt in medical centres, police and other health services, and it’s putting extraordinary pressure on everyone involved in the emergency response effort across the country,” said Ms McCann.
Ms McCann, herself a former St John communications worker, said that St John relies on doctors and nurses at medical centres throughout the country to respond to 111 calls, usually when ambulances are dispatched from a large distance. Doctors and nurses are regularly required to leave their clinics during the day, delaying patient appointments and ultimately reducing access to primary health care for New Zealanders.
“Underfunding is also a major problem in St John’s communications centre, where short-staffing means calls are going unanswered from emergency lines within an acceptable time frame,” said Ms McCann.
“A call to 111 for an ambulance can mean a wait of 3-5 minutes while connecting to the service from the emergency line operator before it is answered by St John’s communications centre.”
“Depending on where you live and the time needed to dispatch an ambulance, these minutes could be the difference between life and death for a loved one.”
Ms McCann said that the St John communications centre is so understaffed that new communications workers without appropriate training are being required to dispatch ambulances, and that dispatchers can work for more than 8 hours without breaks.
“It all comes back to an underfunded service that was truly expecting further support when NZ First were in campaign mode and claiming they were keen to fix the ambulance service once and for all,” said Ms McCann.
“If Christopher Luxon’s Government has held them back from fulfilling that promise, ambulance officers and the wider public deserve to know why. Shane Reti’s pre-election ambulance ride-alongs are increasingly looking like a perverse political stunt to St John workers.”
Budget 2024/25’s Vote Health showed the Government had retained a funding level of $44,776,000 for ‘Emergency Road Ambulance Services (Additional Support Funding)’ in 2024/25, with a funding trajectory that remained static until 2027/28, representing a funding freeze that meant workers would be required to take an effective wage cut for each of the next three years while the service crumbled around them, Ms McCann said.
“It’s a middle finger to overworked ambulance officers and a strong shove across the ditch to Australia, where the service is underpinned by the Fair Work Ombudsman and people can truly find a career in the sector,” said Ms McCann.
Ms McCann says the Prime Minister has publicly claimed that the service doesn’t want to be 100% funded, but St John managers have confirmed to FIRST Union representatives that they’ve clearly stated to the Prime Minister, Casey Costello (Associate Minister of Health) and Shane Reti (Minister of Health) that they are seeking 100% Crown funding for all operating costs.
“Mr Luxon seems totally disengaged and out of touch with what has been asked of the Crown, and Ministers Reti and Costello are missing in action – ambulance officers need answers now.”
FIRST Union members at St John have voted to take further strike action that commences today, with the aim of seeking public support for a fully functioning ambulance service before industrial action intensifies to the point of withdrawing labour. FIRST Union members’ current strike actions, which will continue until a resolution has been reached, include:
- Wearing replacement name badges over uniforms to communicate their concerns to the public (image attached)
- Refusing to observe station duties and portfolios that are expected of staff on top of the already heavy workload
- 815 closing codes – to affect St John’s ability to part charge patients.
- Frontline ambulances not attending non-urgent interhospital transfers – putting the responsibility back on patient transfer services who are contracted and funded to deliver these services
Ms McCann said FIRST Union members were currently considering an escalating course of industrial action that could continue indefinitely without urgent political intervention or at the very least, insight into the broken Budget promise and confirmation that a pathway to full funding of St John was being cemented in the background.
“It’s not good enough,” said Ms McCann. “Ambulance officers are stressed-out, burnt-out and furious with this Government’s handling of emergency services funding.”
“We depend on our emergency services to save lives, but the continued underfunding of St John ambulance services means workers are set up to fail in their primary duty.”
