Southland To Benefit From Double Crewing For Road Ambulance Call Outs

Budget 2017 is investing $59.2 million over four years to ensure all road ambulance call outs are double crewed, says Invercargill MP Sarah Dowie.

“This is great news for New Zealand, and especially great news for Southland. Double crewing all road ambulance call outs will help ensure patients are provided with the best care possible, as well as support the safety and wellbeing of our dedicated paramedic workforce.

“The investment will see 375 new emergency medical and paramedic roles created across the country and 31 within Southland/Otago over the next four years, to ensure all emergency road ambulance call outs are double crewed by 2021.

“National is focused on getting patients the care they need when they need it, and our ambulance services have a key role to play in this,” says Dowie.

The new policy is also expected to create a significant operational efficiency with around 6,000 fewer incidents each year requiring two ambulances to respond.

In total, the ambulance service will receive over $52 million from Vote Health and an additional $82 million from ACC over the next four years.

“This is the single biggest increase that has gone into our emergency ambulance services, and a further commitment by this Government to strengthening core New Zealand infrastructure.