Dunstan Hospital has come through the busiest time of year for ambulance services with few of the delays that caused concern last year.
Central Otago Health Services Ltd general manager Carol Horgan aired her concerns in March about the number of times transfers of patients with acute conditions were delayed because no ambulance was available.
During the four months from the start of July 2008, an ambulance was unavailable to transfer patients to Dunedin 23 times and it was possible lives were at risk because of those delays, she said.
"Things have been far better this year," Dr Horgan said yesterday.
Anyone with life-threatening injuries was airlifted to Dunedin but transfers by road last winter and spring had been delayed when an ambulance was not available.
She had been working with St John managers to resolve the problem and had been worried about extra pressure on the service during winter and the ski season this year, as it was the busiest time for the ambulance service.
"It's exceedingly improved this year but I'm still keeping an eye on it, as there's still a risk for us," Dr Horgan said"There were a few times when an ambulance was unavailable.
"What happens is the call goes to Christchurch and they dispatch us an ambulance.
"A few times they said they didn't have one available but then our local ambulance people found one for us."
Central Otago Health Service runs Dunstan Hospital and earlier this year it had investigated setting up a roster of volunteer drivers to transport non-emergency patients to Dunedin as one way of addressing the problem.
It had compiled a list of volunteers but discovered if volunteer drivers were used to ferry patients, the vehicle they used, as well as the drivers themselves, would have to meet national standards.
The requirements would make it difficult for the hospital to run such a service.
