Nelson paramedics desperate for bigger ambulance station
By Samantha Gee of RNZ
Paramedics in Nelson are in desperate need of a new station, with Hato Hone St John staff split between four sites as they work to provide life-saving services in the community.
The organisation has purchased a 4000sq m section in Richmond, but needs to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to build a new station.
St John Nelson Tasman area operations manager Anne-Maree Harris said the team's base is a small station in Richmond that operates 24/7, that was first built as a temporary solution for the rapidly growing district.
"It's what I would call a three-bedroom home that we utilised 15 years ago into an ambulance station."
Harris said on her first shift in the region, 25 years ago, there was a conversation about the need for a new headquarters.
Now, more than two decades on, ambulance staff and their managers work from different locations.
The Richmond Station lacked adequate space for staff and volunteers to rest, practice clinical skills and safely debrief after complex callouts and there was not enough room to securely store its ambulance fleet, she said.
"We're beyond capacity, we have a responsibility to provide rest areas for our staff on night shift to make sure that they're safe and they can drive safely... as well as providing them an opportunity to have office space to do their admin or further studies and clinical work."
Staff are split across four sites in Richmond, Nelson City, Stoke and Tāhunanui.
"We don't have our managers under the same roof as our duty crews at the moment. They are currently based in Stoke, so that we lose the opportunity to be able to monitor the well-being of our staff... we become more reactive than proactive."
She said the crew made it work, but being located in one building would make a big difference to its operations.
"We see harm, we see some horrific things and part of that is how we come back to station and we allow our team to talk in a safe environment about their feelings, their emotions, and we discuss what went well, what can we do differently, how can we improve and we've got no privacy to do that on this site."
Critical care paramedic Jon Leach was involved with the Richmond Station when it was first built, and recalled that the plan was for it to be moved to a smaller centre in the region, to make way for a larger facility within five or so years.
He said since then, there had been significant growth in the surrounding district, which included the increase of an ageing population.
In the 25 years he had been a paramedic, there had been huge changes in the issues people presented with, the workload and the care that was administered.
"When I first started, we were pretty much load and go and like give you some Entonox (pain medication) and now we're making massive differences here pre-hospital, the paramedic skill set is amazing."
Leach said there were several dedicated pathways to support patients when it came to falls prevention, strokes, palliative care and severe heart attacks, several of which Nelson had been at the forefront of, and a dedicated facility would enable more of that work to continue.
Data showed frontline ambulance crews responded to more than 450,000 incidents around the country in 2024 and in the past decade, demand for services had increased nearly 90%.
Hato Hone St John are aiming to raise $4.5 million to rebuild 10 ambulance stations around the country, including the Nelson station, with proceeds of its annual appeal this month going toward the new builds.
The other new stations are located in Whangārei, Waihī, Cambridge, Morrinsville, Palmerston North, Akaroa, Oamaru, Riversdale and Invercargill.
It also has plans to renovate or repair the stations in Kawakawa, central Auckland and Rangiora.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Private use of publicly-funded cancer drugs will widen inequities, doctors warn
By Ruth Hill of RNZ A move to allow private patients to access publicly-funded cancer drugs threatens to increase wait times for those in the public system, warn senior doctors. Under "transitional access", which comes into effect on July 1, private patients who are already receiving treatment - or about to start treatment - with a newly funded medicine will not have to shift to the public system for 12 months. Associate Health Minister David Seymour, who has championed the rule change, said it would lessen stress on private patients by enabling continuity of care, and pressure on the public system which would no longer have to deal with a sudden influx of patients. However, the move has been criticised by opposition politicians as "a subsidy for private insurers", which already cover the cost of medicines newly funded by Pharmac, and of little benefit to patients. The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, which represents 6500 senior hospital doctors and dentists, said its members working in oncology and haematology had "significant concerns" the change would widen inequities for patients. Change will create 'two-tier' waiting list In a letter on June 13 to Pharmac's acting chief executive Brendan Boyle, the union's director of policy and research, Harriet Wild, quoted a briefing to the minister saying the policy change "would not increase volumes of cancer medicines provided in New Zealand, as only the location of treatments will change". "It will simply shift some of the existing capacity to the private system, where patients will need to fund infusion costs out-of-pocket," Wild wrote. "There will be pressure on the public system to ensure a smooth transition in treatment regime, which may mean delaying treatment for other people already waiting on the public list and unable to self-fund to start in private. "This potentially creates a two-tier waiting list and a system where those with more financial resources, will be prioritised for treatment." Furthermore, the shift of resources and inevitable increase in demand was likely to speed up the exodus of staff to the private sector, making public waiting lists even longer. Minister signals broadening access further A "back-pocket Q&A" provided to Seymour ahead of a Cabinet meeting on April 7 noted that the current eligibility criteria in the Pharmaceutical Schedule (excluding patients in private settings) was "designed to ensure public funding for medicines was prioritised for those managed in the public health system for cancer treatment, assessed by need, rather than public funding supporting those who chose to access treatment in private facilities. "Often the private treatment is funded from private health insurance that people have paid premiums into." In the same document, the minister said there was no plan to expand the policy to include other types of medicines or treatments "at this stage". "With that said, I've asked the Ministry [of Health] to do further work in this area to explore the possibility of broadening access to all publicly-funded medicines in private facilities - not just newly funded cancer medicines. "I encourage the private health providers and insurance companies to work closely with the ministry to support their understanding of how this might work in practice." Wild said opening access to publicly-funded drugs even wider would pull more staff away from the public system, reducing access for the majority who relied on it. "That would establish a system where a patient's ability to receive timely cancer care would depend on whether they could afford the out-of-pocket infusion costs." Pharmac's Budget boost needs 'back up' The government's 2024 Budget boost to Pharmac to widen access to medicines for patients had not been accompanied by extra resources for Te Whatu Ora to deliver the treatments, when public oncology services were already swamped with demand, Wild said. "Our members are increasingly needing to manage deteriorating patients, who are unable to access chemotherapy infusions in clinically acceptable timeframes. "This is unacceptable and represents a significant failure to invest in a planned and co-ordinated way to enable the public system to meet the needs of cancer patients, including those eligible for newly funded cancer medicines. "Whenever a new cancer drug is funded, it must be accompanied by an increase in the full package of care (staffing, infusion space, pharmacy) so that patients can actually receive the medicines within clinically acceptable timeframes." The Health Minister and David Seymour's office have been approached for comment.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Family of woman killed by mental health patient say they feel 'forgotten'
By Sam Sherwood of RNZ A man whose wife was murdered by a forensic mental health patient three years ago has not heard from authorities for more than a year and says his family feels "forgotten". The Minister of Mental Health says the level of contact is unacceptable, and has reinforced his expectations that the family would be regularly updated and provided support by Health New Zealand. Zakariye Mohamed Hussein stabbed Laisa Waka Tunidau to death as she walked home from work on 25 June 2022. Hussein was on community leave at the time of the killing. Two reviews were ordered, one into Hussein's care, and another looking at Canterbury District Mental Health Services. The mother-of-four's husband Nemani Tunidau met with staff from Hillmorton Hospital in early 2024. He says it was the first and last time he has heard from them. He told RNZ his family felt "forgotten". "It just makes me angry and feel that they don't want to blame themselves for what has happened to my wife. "We are suffering from loneliness, especially the children." He wants compensation for HNZ's "carelessness that caused the death of my beloved wife". In October last year another mental health patient Elliot Cameron murdered pensioner Faye Phelps at her Christchurch home. It has since been revealed that Cameron killed his brother in 1975. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered to be a special patient. Correspondence released to RNZ under the Official Information Act revealed that on 24 April, a principal advisor at the Ministry of Health emailed the manager of media relations at the Ministry of Health and the Director of Mental Health Dr John Crawshaw about the report into Canterbury District Mental Health Services and media coverage of family experience. The email included a link to an article written by this journalist while at the New Zealand Herald. The article from January 2024 was an interview with Tunidau, who said he had not heard from authorities since his wife's death 18 months earlier. Dr Crawshaw replied saying: "This reinforces the need to discuss how the contact with the family will be managed." The principal advisor agreed and said it had to be a "key priority" for the next fortnight's conversations with Health New Zealand and with ministers. "No one should be exposed on this - including the families affected by both incidents. "It's partly why I think an approach to the coroner's office is useful, too. Given the patchy family engagement, I think we should be leading the best practice - the coronial file will have a case manager who should be in regular contact with the family. That case manager would appreciate a heads-up of the report publication and surrounding media coverage." Phelps' daughter Karen Phelps said she and her brother had a meeting at Hillmorton on 18 December. Since then, they had received one email that had been forwarded on by police from Canterbury Specialist Mental Health Services general manager Vicki Dent on 14 March. Dent said the independent review into Cameron's care was "progressing well". "The panel were onsite at the end of February (a little later than originally planned) and have completed much of their information gathering. They are now working through the analysis, findings and recommendations. "This is taking a little longer than we had originally hoped, but it is important that this is completed thoroughly." Dent was unable to give a "definitive timeframe" for when the review would be completed, but said she would keep the family updated. Dent said she was stepping away from the general manager role, and said the director of nursing would be the point of contact going forward. Phelps told RNZ it was "extremely disappointing" that Health NZ had "not been keeping our family better informed". "The fact we have had to take the lead on seeking information obviously just adds to our trauma and stress. "I fear their independent internal investigation is taking the same track as the Laisa Waka Tunidau investigation that many years later has still not been finalised or the details released. In my view that cannot be seen as anything other than a blatant disregard for the families and a complete reluctance to release findings to the public." She said the longer it took for reports to be completed "the longer the public is at risk". "The fact we feel we have to fight to try to get the findings of the report released in a timely manner is shameful. "For me it is also a stark indication of Hillmorton's generally incompetent processes, which have resulted in these unnecessary deaths in the first place." In response to questions from RNZ, Minister of Mental Health Matt Doocey said the level of contact Tunidau received was unacceptable. "After any family has sadly gone through the tragedy such as what the Tunidau family have sadly experienced, I would expect Health New Zealand would be regularly updating the family and providing the needed support. "I have reinforced this expectation to Health NZ that they will get in touch with the family to ask how they can better support them going forward and have reinforced I do not find the level of contact described as acceptable." Health New Zealand spokesperson Phil Grady said in a statement to RNZ that HNZ always made contact with families following "serious events" to help provide answers where they could. "We have done this in both cases, however we recognise there is always room for improvement in our communication with families." In some cases, families choose to communicate with HNZ through their lawyer or the police. "Following serious events such as these we undertake a review and this process can be lengthy. During the review process we are often limited in what we can share with families without compromising the independence of the review. During this period we do offer family liaison support where appropriate. "We are making contact with the families' preferred representative to offer an update and a further opportunity to meet." HNZ was also refreshing national guidelines to support improved communication with families following serious incidents. "We are always available and encourage families to reach out to us if it is helpful to them." A Ministry of Health spokesperson said the ministry recognised the importance of keeping families informed in these circumstances. "The ministry plans to soon be in contact with both the Tunidau family and the Phelps family as part of the arrangements involved in finalising a report into systemic issues within local mental health services, including forensic services, which was sparked in part by the tragic death of Laisa Waka Tunidau." Director of Mental Health Dr John Crawshaw said he acknowledged both families' concerns and he intended to meet with both families face to face once the report was complete - should they wish for this to happen.
The Spinoff
3 days ago
- The Spinoff
Can a new suicide prevention plan save more NZ lives?
The mental health minister says clear milestones and better accountability are among the reasons he's hopeful the plan will work, writes Catherine McGregor in today's extract from The Bulletin. A new strategy with sharper teeth Mental health minister Matt Doocey has unveiled the government's latest Suicide Prevention Action Plan, a five-year strategy aimed at reducing New Zealand's persistently high suicide rate. Doocey said the plan would be markedly different from its predecessor, with a focus on accountability, clear milestones and agency responsibilities, RNZ reports. Among the plan's key actions are opening six regional 'crisis cafes' – 'safe space[s] for someone in distress that [are] staffed by people with lived experience', according to Doocey – improving access to suicide prevention supports, and growing a skilled workforce trained in suicide prevention. The plan also includes new regional services and funding initiatives targeting high-risk communities, including rural areas, mothers and youth. Doocey emphasised that those with experience of suicide played a key role in shaping the plan, which received input from more than 400 individuals and organisations. A high toll of lives lost The plan is aimed at addressing New Zealand's concerningly high suicide rate. In the year to June 2024, 617 people died by suspected suicide in New Zealand, up from 566 the previous year. It should be mentioned here that the chief coroner last year noted that the overall statistical rate of suicide was not considered to have changed since 'fluctuations in rates from year to year are common in suicide data'. Be that as it may, the 2024 figure was almost twice the road toll in the same period, report Kim Griggs and Brittany Keogh in The Post (paywalled). The national rate is now at 11.2 per 100,000 people, with male rates (15.9) far outpacing female rates (6.4). Young people continue to be at greatest risk, with the 20–24 age group recording the highest rate at 19.9. Māori remain disproportionately affected, with a suspected suicide rate of 16.4 – twice that of Pasifika, and more than three times the rate for those of Asian ethnicity. The figures also show regional disparities, with the former Lakes DHB area reporting the highest rate (26.8). Debating the data Last month, a Unicef report made national headlines after it placed New Zealand last among 36 high-income countries for youth mental wellbeing, citing a youth suicide rate more than triple the international average. It also found that New Zealand's children experienced the second highest rate of bullying out of the countries included. However, experts including University of Auckland academics Sarah Hetrick and Sarah Fortune have cast doubt on the report's conclusions. The Unicef analysis was based on confirmed suicide data from 2018–2020, ignoring more recent downward trends in suspected suicides among 15 to 19-year-olds, they said. Unicef Aotearoa's Tania Sawicki Mead explained that 'the report uses like-for-like data' in order to ensure consistency when comparing countries. The role of financial hardship While many factors contribute to suicide rates, they cannot be separated from the broader socio-economic climate. Last year an international academic review of global suicide research, published in the Lancet, found a consistent link between economic downturns – especially rising unemployment – and higher suicide rates. Feelings such as 'defeat and humiliation, entrapment, lack of belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness' can be key precursors to suicidal thinking, the authors wrote. 'Some or all of these psychological processes might be at play for those who are economically disadvantaged.' In the post-Covid era New Zealand has faced a dramatic economic slowdown, with mounting living costs and rising job insecurity. These pressures disproportionately affect those already vulnerable – especially young people, Māori, and rural communities. As Georgie Craw wrote recently in The Spinoff, policies that focus solely on GDP growth miss the point: 'GDP doesn't tell us if children are fed, if they feel safe, if they can access mental health support when they're struggling.' Any serious suicide prevention strategy, experts like the Mental Health Foundation's Shaun Robinson argue, must look beyond clinical services to address the deeper social conditions that foster despair.
