St John Ambulance NT Overwhelmed, Calls for More Resources

0:00St. John Ambulance in the Northern Territory hit its max capacity twice in just one week calling code white alerts for the Darwin area. Their warning that under-resourcing has them on the edge of total breakdown almost every day with only five full-time rigs covering Darwin and Palmerston. Earlier this week, during the first alert, 61 emergency calls got dropped and one critical case waited over five hours for help. Then Friday morning brought round two where six life or dead situations hung out up to 90 minutes and some lesser emergencies set for more than six hours. Staff point to hospital backups and even a paramedic sideline after patient abuse as big factors slowing things down. Over the last six years, call volume has nearly doubled to over 100,000 a year while full-time crews have shrunk below national levels. The service director says short-term boosts from the government helped a bit after the first incident but it wasn't enough to stop the second. Overload, they need five new ambulance this year plus more crews long-term to match the demand.

1:06Right now, contract talks with the NT government are heating up as the current deal expires into the year. Officials agree fast to responses matter to avoid patient crashes and they're pushing for sustainable fixes to keep the system from tipping over. Again, that's your update from sending news today, powered by AI.