Kedgley Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Kedgley Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:621;Page:16801] 
11.  
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Health 
: Is she satisfied that all ambulances responding to emergencies operate with a minimum of two trained crew as required by the New Zealand Standard for ambulance services? 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Associate Minister of Health) 
: 
 I am satisfied that the emergency ambulance services are being managed and provided in a professional manner and with due regard to the public’s best interests. The ambulance service sector standards have not yet been considered for approval under the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act. A lot more work is needed before that happens. 
Sue Kedgley 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question was very explicit. Is she satisfied that all ambulances responding to emergencies operate with a minimum of two trained crew as required by the New Zealand standard? Could the Minister address the question please. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I thought the Minister did. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Does she agree that most New Zealanders would be disturbed to learn that even in some metropolitan areas such as Wellington ambulances do not have the required two crew members in an emergency situation and will she commit to providing the extra $2 million to $17 million of funding needed to ensure that all ambulances attending emergencies have two trained crew members; if not why not? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: It is clear that the member did not hear the answer to the primary question. The ambulance service sector standards have not yet been considered for approval under the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act. A lot more work needs to be done before that happens. Therefore there is not a requirement for double-crewing. 
Sue Kedgley 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question did not relate to whether the standard had been implemented. My question was whether most New Zealanders would be disturbed to learn that there was not double-crewing in emergency situations and whether she would provide funding so that that could happen. It had nothing to do with whether the standard was implemented. I wonder whether the Minister could address my question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister can address the question in so far as it relates to whether she is disturbed about the double-crewing comment. 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: In my view I did answer the question appropriately. The point made in both the primary question and the supplementary question by the member was that there is a requirement to implement the New Zealand standard for ambulance services. The point I was making is that there is no such requirement. 
Nanaia Mahuta 
: What advice has the Minister received regarding the operational funding of road ambulance services? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: A funding review of ambulance services carried out by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with ambulance operators shows that non-governmental ambulance providers as a whole had a surplus of $6.7 million on their overall operations in 2002-03. Surpluses have also been posted in the previous 4 years. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Is she aware of recent incidents such as one in Wellington that I witnessed as an observer in an ambulance in which a seriously injured victim of a car accident had to wait while a second ambulance was sent to the scene of the incident because the first ambulance carried only one ambulance officer and does she agree that delays such as this can put people’s lives at risk and are totally unacceptable in an emergency front-line health service; if so what is she going to do about it? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I am not aware of the specifics of that case and until I have a fuller briefing I would not even be aware of why the second ambulance was called so I do not think it would be appropriate for me to comment on that issue. 
Nanaia Mahuta 
: Can the Minister clarify what percentage of public funding goes towards ambulance services? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: According to the report to which I alluded in response to earlier questions public funding from both the Ministry of Health and the Accident Compensation Corporation makes up 85 percent of the funding received by our ambulance operators. Of the total road ambulance income 0.34 percent comes from donations. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Where is the sense of urgency around provision of this essential front-line service given that the funding review which the Green Party obtained under the Official Information Act was due for release in October of last year yet the Minister still cannot give a firm date for when the funding issue will be resolved or even an assurance that double-crewing will definitely be implemented in emergency situations? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I certainly share the member’s concern that the review that I instigated was delivered to me a year later than anticipated—in fact a little longer than that. Part of the reason for the delay and a substantial contributor to it was the Ministry of Health’s inability to get quality data from the ambulance providers. Once that had been established I was very pleased to get the review. The whole point of commissioning the review was to build future policy including issues of double-crewing and whether that is appropriate in all circumstances.