'Off the chart' St John calls slow down, but pressure remains

The huge surge in ambulance 111 calls is abating, but Hato Hone St John says it is still extremely busy as the winter flu peak stretches into spring. The service was treating many people in respiratory distress or with other complications of flu-like illness, and putting back-office staff into ambulance crews to fill gaps. A month ago St John declared a major incident, saying it had hit record call numbers, and patients with non life threatening conditions could wait hours. Director of ambulance operations Doug Gallagher said it was then getting about 17,000 calls a week. That was now 15,000 a week, but still well above the roughly 13,000 they would expect to see in a busy winter, he said. The late surge in influenza and other respiratory illnesses had taken the service by surprise after a mild start to the season.