10 February 2025
Lauren Doocy
By email:
[FYI request #29026 email]
Ref:
CCHOIA-319
Dear Lauren Doocy
Response to your request for official information
I acknowledge your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) on Monday 16
December 2024:
“Please answer the question as to what specific interventions are being introduced to
address what appears to be recurrent avoidable deaths due to systemic issues
including underfunding of the ambulance system, and what steps you have
undertaken as minister for ambulances, to address that concerns. Outline the
number of meetings you've had with ambulance organisations over the past year,
including any visits to stations, any sessions in which you've met or listened to
paramedics and ambulance staff.”
The Ambulance Team manages emergency ambulance services on behalf of both Health
New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ) and Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC)
(the Purchasers).
The Ambulance Team has quarterly meetings and more frequent regular meetings with all
emergency ambulance service providers (road and air) to discuss funding, performance and
risk. The Ambulance Team does not routinely meet with operational ambulance staf .
Recent Purchaser-funded interventions being introduced, include the introduction of the
enhanced clinical hub and increased staffing.
The enhanced clinical hub (ECH) ameliorates the challenges associated with the primary
triage system. The ECH provides secondary clinical triage to lower-acuity incidents, ensuring
they are appropriately prioritised. This enables the urgent dispatch of ambulances to high-
acuity patients with the priority of incidents upgraded as required post a clinician call back.
This process ensures the severity of the patient’s condition is understood so they can get the
care they need if it is more urgent and thereby improving health outcomes.
Emergency Road Ambulance Service (ERAS) provider funding increases are based on
ambulance activity and resource modelling. The increases include funding for approximately
300 additional FTE frontline staff over the last two years. The full financial costs of the
increased resources are 100% funded by the Purchasers.
With the funding for (300) additional staff, the Ambulance Team has observed improved
provider performance since 2022. Response performances to PURPLE-triaged incidents
Document Outline
