St John NT battling as emergency calls almost double

St John NT is working ‘beyond’ its limits due to emergency calls almost doubling in the past five years, with the service’s chief executive revealing the workload is “taking its toll” on his staff.

St John NT workers are facing mounting pressure, with Triple Zero calls almost doubling in just five years. Picture: Alex Treacy

Staff at St John NT are working “beyond” their limits due to emergency calls almost doubling in the past five years, with the service’s chief executive revealing the workload is “taking its toll” on his staff.

Last month, the Productivity Commission released its Government Services 2025 report, which showed St John NT responded to the highest levels of incidents per capita in the nation.

Alarmingly, the data showed Triple-0 calls had almost doubled since the 2019-20 FY, with St John receiving 100,000 calls in 2023-24.

St John NT chief executive Andrew Tombs said the statistics were being felt in the field.

“Due to limited resourcing, we are currently operating at or beyond our limits to meet current pressures,” he said.

“Without further resources, response times will continue to extend, impacting services in the community and increasing pressure on our amazing workforce.”

The dire statistics were confirmed by St John NT chief executive. Picture: Supplied

Mr Tombs highlighted several spike areas impacting ambo operations.

“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 (report), St John NT responded to 251.1 incidents per 1000 people in the NT, an increase of 6 per cent 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 per cent pushing our resources to the limit and impacting ambulance response times.”

The high volume of incoming calls has also coincided with St John’s Triple-0 answering time plummeting, with only 83.9 per cent of calls answered within 10 seconds - compared to the national average of 94.9 per cent.

St John Ambulance NT units ramped at the Royal Darwin Hospital. Ambulance ramping, RDH. Picture: Alex Treacy

It was only in 2019-20 FY the Territory led the nation for answering time at 97.7 per cent.

In spite of the rising figures, Mr Tombs said his staff continued to be vigilant on the job.

“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,” he 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.”

NT Director Ambulance Services Andrew Thomas said . Picture: Liam Mendes / The Australian

St John NT director of ambulance services Andrew Thomas said workers were operating under “significant” pressure.

“Our people deal with highly emotive situations, they’re dealing with people who are having the worst day of their life and there’s often violence and aggression in that,” he said.

“They’re supposed to be able to take time to breathe and have debrief, but the pressure is building and now there’s often no chance to get a break.”

St John NT has been forced to manage the flood of callouts with the same number of crews on-station.

In Darwin, half-a-dozen ambulances operate at any one time.

A trio of crews patrols Alice Springs, with Katherine served by two ambulances simultaneously.

“If any one of those crews responds to an emergency out in the communities, then that impacts operations in town as well,” Mr Thomas said.

Health Minister Steve Edgington said the government was reviewing service requirements ahead of renewing any patient transport contracts in 2026.

“Funding for St John NT was reviewed and adjusted in 2022-23. This resulted in a base funding increase from $42.8 million in 2022-23 to $47.2 million in 2024-25,” he said.

“In response to rising operational costs for ambulance services, St John NT was provided with an additional $7.8 million in funding in 2023-24 and an additional $10 million in 2024-25.”

Originally published as St John NT battling as emergency calls almost double