ST JOHN NT
NEWSROOM

St John NT is calling for more resourcing for crews to help deal with the mounting pressure of stretched resources and increasing demand, as it faces another challenging year ahead.

According to the latest Report on Government Services (RoGS), St John NT responded to the highest level of incidents per capita in the nation, with demand for Triple Zero (000) calls related to ambulance services burgeoning to more than 90,000 for the 2023/2024 financial year.

St John NT CEO Andrew Tombs said that the report highlighted a resourcing issue, with demand regularly outstripping capacity.

“Over the past five years we have seen a huge increase for our services that continues to grow year on year,” he said.

“According to the latest RoGS report, St John NT responded to 251.1 incidents per 1000 people in the NT, an increase of 6% from the last financial year and continuing to remain significantly higher than the national average of 164.8.

“The number of incidents over the past five years has increased by 40% pushing our resources to the limit and impacting ambulance response times.”

Mr Tombs said the same was true for the Triple Zero (000) call volume, which had doubled over the past five years with almost 100,000 calls received for the 2023/2024 financial year.

“Unfortunately, this increase in volume impacts the ability of staff to answer calls, pushing our Grade of Call Service (calls answered in <10 seconds) to 83.9 % below the national average of 94.9%,” he said.

He said that St John NT continued to receive high patient experience ratings despite the challenges and had the highest cardiac arrest survival rate, with 70% of our patients having returned to spontaneous circulation on arrival at hospital.

“I am proud to say that despite these challenges, our staff continue to give their best to the community through the provision of the highest level of life-saving medical assistance, with the safety of our patients as our upmost priority,” Mr Tombs said.

“But the impacts of these increases in demand and the situations our staff face while responding in the community is taking its toll, with the NT having the highest attrition rate in the country.”

He said that additional resourcing in emergency crews and Triple Zero (000) call takers was required to address this ongoing trend.

“Due to limited resourcing, we are currently operating at or beyond our limits to meet current pressures,” Mr Tombs said. “Without further resources, response times will continue to extend, impacting services in the community and increasing pressure on our amazing workforce.”

More information on the Australian Productivity Commission Report on Government Services 2025 (ROGS) here