Kerre Woodham: The ambulances are under the pump, and it won't finish anytime soon

Today, the 111 call out and the fact that St John is absolutely under the pump and has been for quite some time and they're not expecting it to finish anytime soon. On Saturday, 2,562 calls came into the ambulance through 111 the highest number received ever in a single day. But then that was the third time the daily record had been broken in a week.

Just last week, the record number of 111 calls was set, then surpassed, then surpassed, then surpassed again and they're not expecting that to go anytime soon. A mate of mine pretty much saved the life of our mutual friend. She was at her flat, suddenly stricken, like off the couch in agony. Her flatmate called 111, time was ticking by, nothing was happening.

So he rang my friend Les in absolute despair and said what the hell do I do, she's in agony. Les whizzed round there and then rang the ambulance service and asked where the ambulance was. And she said I can't tell you that and he said yes you can because you've got GPS, where is the ambulance? She said I can't tell you that. And he pushed her and pushed her until finally she admitted there was no ambulance on the way, they didn't have one. But she didn't want to tell him that, I don't know why. 

As soon as he heard that he just hung up, he and the flatmate scooped up Soph, whizzed her to the hospital and she'd had a brain aneurysm. It was touch and go but she has made a full recovery and is back to the beautiful vibrant soul she is, but it really was touch and go. If Les hadn't pushed, they'd have sat there waiting for an ambulance and Soph would have died. There'll be a hell of a lot more stories like that out there after the past two weekends.

As I said, it was a record number on Saturday, 2,562 calls, a normal day would see around 1,900 calls. According to Doug Gallagher, who's the St John Director of Ambulance Operations, not all cases need an ambulance. And he's right. After I smashed my arm into a million pieces, the next day, it was an uncomfortable night I grant you, but the next day I was still able to take a taxi from Leigh to a 24 hour medical centre on the North Shore.

It wasn't a fun hour and if I'd been in an ambo perhaps I would have had some pain relief which would have been greatly appreciated, but I got it once I got to the 24 hour clinic and once there it was a completely straightforward process of them going ooh, no, I think that needs to be x rayed, oh, I think we'll go to hospital for that one, and off we went. So probably people don't need an ambulance.

When something drastic happens, your first thought probably is oh I better ring an ambulance. And I suppose when I hurt my arm, I didn't even think of an ambulance because we were so far away, we were out in the seaside, at a seaside resort. And I didn't think there'd be any point in ringing an ambulance, I'd wait till the morning and get a taxi and go in from there. Possibly you could travel under your own steam. And I just wonder why people instantly think 111.  As Mike said this morning when he was talking to Doug Gallagher, there are a lot of time wasters, but Doug Gallagher said well I wouldn't call them that.

Wasting the time's not the term to use. I think people struggle sometimes with not being able to access the right part of the health system. But there are options there, Healthline, online GP portal, people can find those through the Health New Zealand website. I think that's the issue that people struggle to navigate the health system at times.

Is that what it is? Why would the first, I mean if you don't have a vehicle and you don't have any money, and there's a few people like that, then an ambulance may well be your only option if you think it's serious. But in the first instance, what do you do? I've called the Healthline before and it's been very helpful. I did think I'd probably need to get my arm set, but I didn't need an ambulance for that. I couldn't drive, but I could take a taxi and I did have the money to take a taxi. Not everybody does.

Do you think it's drummed into us to call 111 in an emergency or why is it that so many people see the ambulance as the first response? And you are asked to pay if you can when you take an ambulance, so you might as well hop in a cab or an Uber if you think there's something really wrong and needs checking out. That's a lot of calls in a day.

 I would love to know how many of them were absolutely essential where people may well have died if they didn't get that ambulance ride to the hospital. I'd just be interested to know what the advice is. Like Doug is saying navigate the health system, well so okay you ring Healthline and they answer pretty quickly. They might be able to give you advice.

Is it just panic when something happens? Like oh my god, what do I do? They're in terrible pain, I don't know how to deal with it, I'm going to ring the ambulance rather than I'm going

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carry Wooden Morning's podcast from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
He'd be today the one one one call out and
the fact that Saint John is absolutely under the pump
and has been for quite some time, and they're not
expecting it to finish anytime soon. On Saturday, two five
hundred and sixty two calls came into the ambulance through

(00:33):
one one one, the highest number received ever in a
single day. But then that was the third time the
daily record had been broken in a week, So just
in last week the record number of one one one
calls was set, then surpassed, then surpassed, then surpassed again,

(00:53):
and then not expecting that to go anytime soon. A
mate of mine pretty much saved the life of our
mutual friend. She was at her flat suddenly stricken like
off the couch in agony. Her flatmate called one one
one time. Tuck was ticking by, nothing was happening, so

(01:18):
he rang my friend Liz an absolute expariency. What the
hell do I do? She's in agony. Liz whizzed round
there and then rang the ambulance service and asked where
the ambulance was, and she said, I can't tell you that,
and he said, yes, you can, because you've got GPS.
Where is the ambulance? She said, I can't tell you that,
and he pushed her and pushed her, until finally she
admitted there was no ambulance on the way. They didn't

(01:41):
have one, but she didn't want to tell him that.
I don't know why. So as soon as he heard
that he just hung up. He and the flatmates scooped up.
So wized it to the hospital and she had a
brain aneurysm. It was touch and go, but she has
made a full recovery and is back to the beautiful,
vibrant soul she is. But it really was touch and go.

(02:02):
If Liz hadn't pushed, they'd have sat there waiting for
an amba, and so would have died. There'll be a
hell of a lot more stories like that out there
after the past two weekends. So, as I said, you know,
it was a record number on Saturday, twy five hundred
and sixty two calls. A normal day would see around

(02:23):
nineteen hundred calls. According to Doug Gallaho, who's the Saint
John Director of Ambulance Operations, not all cases need an ambulance,
and he's right after I smashed my arm into a
million pieces the next day. It was an uncomfortable night,
I grant you. But the next day I was still

(02:45):
able to take a taxi from Lee to a twenty
four our medical center on the North Shore. And you know,
it wasn't a fun hour. And if i'd been in
a nambo, perhaps I would have had some pain relief,
which would have been greatly appreciated. But I got it
once I got to the twenty four our clinic, And
once there it was a completely straightforward pros of them going, oh, no,

(03:08):
I think that needs to be x rayed. Oh, and
I think we'll go to hospital for that one, and
off we went. So probably people don't need an ambulance,
Like when something drastic happens, your first thought probably is, oh,
I better ring an ambulance. And I suppose when I

(03:30):
hurt my arm, I didn't even think of an ambulance
because we were so far away. We're out in the
seaside at a seaside resort, and I didn't think there'd
be any point in ringing an ambulance. I'd wait till
the morning and get a taxi and go in from there.
So possibly you could travel under your own steam, and

(03:53):
I just wonder why people instantly think one one one,
you know, there's a look. As Mike said this morning
when he was talking to Doug Gallaher, there are a
lot of time wasters, but Doug gallah has said, well,
I wouldn't call.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Them that wasting. The times not the term to use.
I think people struggle sometimes with not being able to
access the right part of the health system. But there
are options. There are health Line online GP portal. People
can confine those through the Health New Zealand website. I
think that's the issue that people struggle to navigate the

(04:28):
health system at time.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Is that what it is? Why would I mean, if
you don't have a vehicle and you don't have any money,
and there's a few people like that, then an ambulance
may well be your only option if you think it's serious.
But in the first instance, what do you do. I've

(04:52):
called the health line before and it's been very helpful.
I found that very helpful. I did think I'd probably
need to get my arm set, but I didn't need
an ambulance for that. I couldn't drive, but I could
take a taxi and I did have the money to
take a taxi. Not everybody does. Do you think it's

(05:14):
drummed into us to call one one one in an emergency?
Or why is it that so many people see the
ambulance as the first response and you are asked to
pay if you can when you're take an ambulance, So
you might as well hop in a cab or an
uber if you think there's something really wrong and needs
checking out. That's a lot of calls in a day.

(05:41):
I would love to know how many of them were
absolutely essential, where people may well have died if they
didn't get that ambulance ride to the hospital. I'd just
be interested to know what the advice is. Like Doug

(06:01):
is saying navigate the health system. Well, so, okay, you
ring health line and they answer pretty quickly. They might
be able to give you advice. Is it just panic
when something happens like, oh my god, what do I do?
They're in terrible pain. I don't know how to deal
with it. I'm going to ring the ambulance rather than

(06:24):
I'm going to ring healthline and see if this is
something I can manage myself. I don't know. I'd really
love to hear your experiences. I mean in my mate's case,
Lester's case, if he hadn't got SOD to the hospital,
she wouldn't be here. And that's that. How many cases

(06:47):
are like that with an ambulance? Or are people using
it because they have no other options? And what is
the medical of I mean if in doubt ring an ambulance,
is that really the advice that Saint John would give.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
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