A new ambulance station in South Dunedin is a runaway success, St John says.
The Hillside station, which opened in Hillside Rd last November, responded to more than 370 incidents a month and response times were excellent, St John coastal Otago area manager Dave Jasperse said.
"In simple terms, it's fantastic."
The station was a one-storey building and having crew sitting near the ready and waiting ambulance - where they could hear a callout over the vehicle's communication system even before their pagers went off - was showing its worth in reduced response times.
It should 60 seconds from callout to the vehicle being on the road. Up to October, the average response time at the three ambulance stations in Dunedin was 75 seconds. The response time at the Hillside base was now about 30 seconds, while at Dunedin's central station in York Pl it remained 70 seconds-plus, because staff had to descend a staircase. The Hillside crew's response times were "absolutely incredible", Mr Jasperse said.
The Hillside ambulance responded to incidents all over the city and was able to reach Mosgiel more quickly, too.
All South Dunedin was previously an under-resourced area in terms of response times, but "I think we've addressed that".
