‘Emergency’: CICTAR report on Saving New Zealand’s Ambulance Service
This report, developed by CICTAR, in partnership with Workers First Union, lays out the arguments for the full governmental funding of Aotearoa New Zealand’s ambulance services, collectively making a compelling case for their public ownership.
Ambulance services in Aotearoa New Zealand are presently provided by two partially charity-funded operators, standing as an anomaly among comparable OECD countries,
The report lays out five major challenges which threaten to irreversibly break the model and jeopardize the resilience of arguably the countries most vital life-saving health service.
The five key challenges laid out in the report are:
(1) An ageing population that will continue to increase the number of callouts and the cost of delivering medical care
(2) A vast remuneration and superannuation gap between New Zealand and Australia that accelerates the loss of experienced ambulance officers overseas
(3) A cost-of-living crisis and a shrinking pool of donated income to fund our ambulance services, increasing the reliance on patient co-payments for treatment received
(4) A fleet of diesel ambulances whose necessary update to electrification carries a substantial cost that presently cannot be borne by the lightly-capitalised charities
(5) Growing coordination challenges within the health sector
The report concludes that these challenges, taken together, provide the case for an urgent shift to a fully funded ambulance service that is publicly owned.
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