Health Minister signals St John contract will open up after two ‘life saving’ procedures suspended

The Territory’s paramedics contract could be up for grabs in the first time in more than 50 years, following a damning independent review of the St John Ambulance Service.

On Tuesday NT Health Minister Steve Edgington said that the St John Ambulance contract was due to expire in early 2026, with a “procurement process” to begin shortly. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The Territory’s ambulance service contract will be up for grabs for the first time in over half a century after St Johns was banned from performing two ‘life saving’ high risk procedures.

On Tuesday NT Health Minister Steve Edgington said that the St John Ambulance contract was due to expire in early 2026, with a “procurement process for a new contract” to begin shortly.

A NT Health spokeswoman also said the department was “currently reviewing service requirements in order to renew patient transport contracts from 2026”.

“Procurement strategies for emergency and patient transport services are being finalised and future tender opportunities and industry briefings will be held in the near future,” she said.

United Workers Union NT secretary Erina Early said this was a historic announcement in opening up the tenders for the Territory’s embattled ambulance service.

Ms Erina said the St John Ambulance contract had been rolling over every five years since 1974 — 51 years ago.

“Regardless of how many reviews have said there have been issues, St John NT have always had the contract,” she said.

“This is the first time ever in history that there’s been a tender process for the ambulance service in the Northern Territory.”

United Workers Union NT secretary Erina Early said this was a historic announcement in opening up the tenders for the Territory’s embattled ambulance service. Picture: Zizi Averill.

While the union has fought for the ambulance service to come under the NT Government, Ms Erina said the tender process could draw interest from other private ambulance services including CareFlight, Royal Flying Doctor Service, and Falck.

“There could be other government ambulance services that may put in a tender as well,” she said.

Ms Early said given the “chaos” within St John NT, she did not expect there to be any significant disruption if the NT were to switch providers.

“Paramedics, patient transport and our communications officers are very professional so I can’t see it being destabilising (given) what they’re going through now with all the clinical governance (and) vote of no confidence,” she said.

Mr Edgington’s announcement comes after the St John NT Director of Ambulance Service was forced to immediately suspend two “High Acuity, Low Occurrence” procedures on Friday.

St John NT Director of Ambulance Services Andrew Thomas told all staff that they would no longer be able to perform a finger thoracostomy or pre-hospital emergency anaesthesia, following concerns from the Road Ambulance Services Clinical Governance Committee.

“This suspension will remain in place until specific governance and oversight requirements-most notably the appointment of an Ambulance Service Medical Officer are fully addressed,” Mr Thomas said.

St John Ambulance NT director of ambulance services Andrew Thomas. Picture: Alex Treacy

Mr Edgington said the suspension of the two interventions was a “proactive measure” in the interest of safety, despite concerns about these HALO procedures and clinical governance gaps being flagged in a leaked independent Clinical Governance Review of St John NT from December.

On Tuesday, Mr Thomas confirmed that St John was working with NT Health to address the recommendations of the report.

“(We’re) currently in the process of engaging a medical director,” Mr Thomas said.

Mr Thomas said the banned HALO procedures were introduced in three years ago under the former chief medical officer, with nine Intensive Care Paramedics currently trained and qualified to perform the procedures.

“St John NT remains committed to the health and wellbeing of our community, our crews are incredible professionals who are dealing with some of the most difficult health related issues in the nation,” Mr Thomas said.

Mr Thomas said the banned HALO procedures were introduced in three years ago under the former chief medical officer. Picture: Alex Treacy

NT Health said St Johns NT was “notified” of the need to suspend the HALO measures on Friday, June 6, following a review of St John’s clinical governance and procedures.

“(It was) part of due diligence and a proactive commitment to safety, rather than in response to any specific incident,” a spokeswoman said.

“NT Health will continue to work with St John Ambulance to secure a satisfactory resolution including the appointment of a medical director to oversee the implementation of identified patient safety and quality improvement measures.

“This position will be finalised in the coming weeks.”

Originally published as Health Minister signals St John contract will open up after two ‘life saving’ procedures suspended