Look, I have got the point where I personally think St John ambulance service is so broken that I'm not sure I would rely on it in an emergency anymore.

Today, the union representing the ambulance workers has announced it’s launching industrial action - indefinitely.

It says St John first said there was no money for pay increases - then did make a pay increase offer, but it wasn't good enough. So the union said no and counter-offered, and every time they've counter-offered, they say St John just refuses to address it.

So as a result, they will still be doing be doing code purple and red call outs, which is cardiac arrest and life threatening stuff. But they are not committing to doing anything else indefinitely.

So basically, until they get a decent pay offer. This could go on for a year, they said.

Can you imagine how much worse this is going to make St John? Because it’s already not flash.

There's a story in the papers today of a 72-year-old guy who called St John to say he was having a heart attack. He knew he was having a heart attack, cause he’d had two before. And they said the ambulance would be an hour or two away because he actually just had a chest infection.

There was also a story just a couple of weeks ago of a 17-year-old girl who died of asthma. Asthma! It's a completely treatable situation, and she died because the operator coded it wrong and sent the ambo crew on a break instead of in to save her life.

Something's wrong here. Part of it is funding, part of it is that we can’t run a life-saving service partly on donations - but it's bigger than that.

Because if you’ve got people incorrectly coding events - quite often - is funding going to fix that?

Anyway, I've got to the point where I've made an alterative plan for if we've got an emergency in the house, I've got a plan for how I'm going to get people to the hospital myself.

Because I don’t think I can rely on St John - and I wonder how many other people have got to that point too.

LISTEN ABOVE

Look, I have got the point where I personally think St John ambulance service is so broken that I'm not sure I would rely on it in an emergency anymore. Today, the union representing the ambulance workers has announced it’s launching industrial action - indefinitely. It says St John first said there was no money for pay increases - then did make a pay increase offer, but it wasn't good enough. So the union said no and counter-offered, and every time they've counter-offered, they say St John just refuses to address it.
So as a result, they will still be doing be doing code purple and red call outs, which is cardiac arrest and life threatening stuff. But they are not committing to doing anything else indefinitely.
So basically, until they get a decent pay offer. This could go on for a year, they said. Can you imagine how much worse this is going to make St John? Because it’s already not flash.
There's a story in the papers today of a 72-year-old guy who called St John to say he was having a heart attack. He knew he was having a heart attack, cause he’d had two before. And they said the ambulance would be an hour or two away because he actually just had a chest infection. There was also a story just a couple of weeks ago of a 17-year-old girl who died of asthma. Asthma! It's a completely treatable situation, and she died because the operator coded it wrong and sent the ambo crew on a break instead of in to save her life. Something's wrong here. Part of it is funding, part of it is that we can’t run a life-saving service partly on donations - but it's bigger than that.
Because if you’ve got people incorrectly coding events - quite often - is funding going to fix that? Anyway, I've got to the point where I've made an alterative plan for if we've got an emergency in the house, I've got a plan for how I'm going to get people to the hospital myself.
Because I don’t think I can rely on St John - and I wonder how many other people have got to that point too.
LISTEN ABOVE

With a straight down the middle approach, Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Newstalk ZB delivers the very latest news and views to New Zealanders as they wrap up their day.

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Heather du Plessis-Allan: St John's ambulance service is so broken

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/62280d08-46af-4ec1-b32c-b18d00616d47/transcript