Under a national review of the St John service, Queenstown loses its intensive care paramedics (ICPs), and they are replaced by lesser-qualified paramedics. "Queenstown’s a loser as far as retaining top-end skills, and they’ve also missed out on what’s called intensive care first-response vehicles," ambulance officers unionist Calvin Fisher says. "One of the worst-affected stations is Queenstown, in this review, and it’s all about dumbing down the qualifications and the delivery of service. Fisher: "For people to be attracted to Queenstown [with its] cost of living and not have a chance to get the higher salary is a real problem for St John." Phase-out of intensive care paramedicsHowever, Fisher says in the past the powers-that-be believed the resort deserved "the best service, and now it’s all just being taken away".

Source: New Zealand Herald June 17, 2022 05:34 UTC