St John moves Levin paramedics to Palmerston North

Hato Hone St John has relocated its two extended care paramedics (ECP) from being based in Levin to Palmerston North for a three-month trial.

Its area operations manager for Mid Central, Gareth Collings, said it was intended to make better use of the ECPs' specialist skills across Horowhenua, Manawatū and Tararua, and would not reduce services in Levin, or the number of ECP roles it employed.

It comes amid concerns about care capacity in the region - in September, the last remaining GP at Horowhenua's Taitoko Health clinic resigned, and a former doctor came out of retirement to staff the clinic. And it's left some members of the community concerned about access to care for vulnerable patients.

According to St John's website, ECPs were dispatched by car to patients who could be safely managed in the community, providing a wider range of interventions than standard paramedics - including prescribing short courses of antibiotics, placing urinary catheters, closing wounds and supporting end-of-life care. The model was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic to better manage less urgent cases outside of hospitals. St John has 46 extended care paramedics nationwide, in Auckland, Hamilton, Levin/Horowhenua, Christchurch, Rangiora, Hokianga and the West Coast.

Now, its two ECPs who previously started and finished their shifts in Levin would instead work from Palmerston North ambulance station, from September until early December. This did not change their ability to respond in Horowhenua, Collings said.

"It allows us to deploy them more effectively to suitable patients with non-life-threatening conditions and complex cases across the wider Mid Central area."

The trial was intended to support greater use of their extended-care capabilities through Hato Hone St John's "patient-centred deployment approach".

"We will monitor the trial closely, including where the ECPs are responding, how effectively their specialist skills are being used and any effect on patient care in Horowhenua and the wider area. No decision about their longer-term base will be made until the trial has been evaluated."

As it was an operational trial, no public consultation was undertaken because it did not remove the service or reduce ECP staffing in Horowhenua.

Lynette Jones, president of the Horowhenua branch of Grey Power, said already the district was finding it difficult to access care.

"The area that we have, it's very wide, very big and of course we've got a lot of people who are elderly," she said.

"We're becoming a bigger population here in Horowhenua, and that has an impact on people getting care when they need it or being looked after when it's an emergency, because there is no emergency department here."

The nearest emergency department was a 45-minute drive away in Palmerston North, she said. It was even more difficult for people without family or friends nearby, as they relied on them to help access healthcare.