St John needs rescuing from funding crisis
The messages being scrawled on St John ambulances by our frontline paramedics highlight the desperation they feel over their pay and conditions, but not the underlying cause of it all – the chronic underfunding of St John itself.
Government funding levels for St John have not kept pace with demand as a result of severe underfunding by the previous Government.
The work our paramedics carry out is becoming more complex and time-consuming every year. These highly trained, highly skilled people keep patients out of emergency departments, saving hospital beds and millions of dollars for district health boards.
When we are in an emergency and dial 111 we expect immediate service from police, Fire and Emergency NZ and ambulances. What may surprise people is that although our police and fire services are fully funded by the Government, our ambulance service is not.
Our national ambulance and expert paramedic service is at a crisis point and if a major shift in thinking on funding is not realised soon, St John won’t be able to continue to provide the essential and trusted services we have come to expect.
The Government only funds about 70 per cent of its costs. The rest comes from either fundraising or charging patients for ambulance callouts. The strange reality about this is highlighted by asking a simple question: Would we really call for assistance from police for a burglar in our house, then expect to be charged a fee to have them take the offender away in their patrol car? Of course not.
Sources from within St John have stated funding levels are so low that every fourth quarter the organisation has to take out a bank loan to pay for basic core expenses, just to tide it over until the beginning of the new financial year. How have we come to such an unbelievable situation?
Those sources have warned that if we fail to fully fund St John then the essential services we expect as being fundamental to the emergency provider will begin to fall over within the next two years.
It will be forced to withdraw from attending some emergency calls, communication centres will be empty and non-functioning, and parts of the country will no longer have sufficient coverage of ambulance paramedics. Essentially, we will no longer have a fully functioning emergency paramedic service.
Added to this is the fact the people who need St John the most are our vulnerable citizens. More than 80 per cent of all ambulance callouts are for those aged under 14 or over 65.
St John is desperate and it needs our Government to sustainably fund it to allow it to provide the level of care the ‘‘Wellbeing Budget’’ aspires to.
Make no mistake, any ‘‘interim funding’’ will only suffice in kicking the can down the road. St John is at a critical crossroads. It needs a $100 million increase to be fully funded. It’s a pittance in light of the essential service it provides our country.
If we are standing behind the ‘‘Wellbeing Budget’’ then perhaps the ones who provide the foundation of the ‘‘wellbeing’’ in our country deserve to be fully supported and funded.
We need to look after St John and especially those paramedics on the front line. When we are in need we rely on them – right now they are relying on bank loans. They should be relying on us.