What we do
In an emergency
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In an emergency
When you call 111 and ask for an ambulance, care starts here at Wellington Free Ambulance's Clinical Communications Centre. Our Clinical Communications Centre is based at our Thorndon, Wellington ambulance station. It's staffed by our emergency medical dispatchers and call takers 24/7, 365 days a year who use a medical priority dispatch system to get you the help that’s right for you.
If you have a medical emergency, call 111. Don’t hesitate for a moment – call and let the professional 111 call taker work out the best way to help.
For health advice anytime call Healthline on 0800 611 116.
What happens when I call 111?
Based on the nature of your call being either an accident or medical emergency, you’ll be asked for:
- The exact address of the emergency: street number, street name and suburb.
- Confirmation of the phone number you’re calling from, including an extension number.
- Details of exactly what happened.
- If you’re helping someone else, we’ll ask you questions like if they’re conscious and breathing.
We repeat some questions because we need to be sure we know where you are. We have to be certain that we understand the nature of your emergency and what you need from us so we can prioritise our response to the most life-threatening incidents.
Working out 111 call priorities
The 111 call taker works out a person’s condition using a medical priority dispatch system. This system is used internationally and is the clinically proven way of getting the right help, to the right people, in the best possible time.
The more life-threatening the condition, the greater priority we give your call. That means sending the closest help to you, right now, under lights and sirens.
If it’s a bad sprain, break or something painful but not life-threatening, an ambulance might be the best help, but it could take longer to arrive if we have several life-threatening things on the go at the time.
If we’re delayed, we’ll call you back to find out if anything has changed, so please keep a watch on the situation, and your phone with you. If the incident isn’t life-threatening, we have registered nurses and Clinical Paramedic Advisors who will call you back and give you advice over the phone.
Emergency Ambulance Services
Emergency Ambulance Services are one of the most recognised parts of Wellington Free Ambulance and are trusted with providing high-quality pre-hospital care to anyone who needs us across Greater Wellington and Wairarapa. Depending on the nature of the incident, your medical history, and how much support you have from people around you, we can help you in many ways.
Our paramedic crews respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It’s their job to provide quality, compassionate care at almost 56,000 incidents every year.
All paramedics at Wellington Free Ambulance are registered with Te Kaunihera Manapou Paramedic Council.
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Help over the phoneIf you have a health concern that we know from talking with you isn’t life-threatening, we’ll have a registered nurse call you back to talk through your symptoms and the best thing to do. They might help you make an appointment with your GP, ask you about your medication, or suggest good options for pain relief. If they’re worried that things could get more serious, they’ll get extra advice from a Clinical Paramedic Advisor. If they think you need a visit from a paramedic or an ambulance, they’ll send one to you. Last year our Clinical Paramedic Advisors supported almost 9,000 incidents safely over the phone. |
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Care in the communityIf your condition is serious and urgent, but not life-threatening we send a paramedic as soon as we can. They might be one of our community-based paramedics who arrive in a car, or it might be a team in an ambulance. Our paramedics are trained to assess your condition and make professional clinical decisions about the best course of action. They may be able to treat you safely at home, especially if you have people around to help and good care in the community. They might transport you to a medical centre or hospital. Last year we helped over 16,000 people stay safe and well at home. |
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Lights and sirens emergencyIf your situation is life-threatening, we send our closest and fastest resource to you under lights and sirens. We work with Fire and Emergency New Zealand, the Life Flight Westpac Rescue Helicopter, and other community first responders to get to you as quickly as possible. Our paramedic teams will treat you, care for you, and get you to the best place for specialist treatment. Last year our emergency ambulance service attended over 55,000 incidents. |
Specialist Emergency Services
To ensure we get patients the right care at the right time, Emergency Ambulance Services comprises several specialist teams, which provide care depending on the medical emergency. These teams include:
Urgent Community Care
If you live in Kāpiti or Porirua, we have a special service aimed at helping you at home. Urgent Community Care paramedics work with you and your GP to help you when your health need is unexpected and urgent but can be safely treated without a trip to the hospital.
Rescue Squad
Our specially trained Rescue Squad paramedics work as part of our region’s search and rescue teams. When an ambulance can’t reach you by road, they’re the team that’s called into help. Equipped with four-wheel drives, these highly qualified clinicians can reach, treat and extract patients from some of our region’s hardest to reach places, including dense bush, cliffs and more.
First responders
Some of our paramedics are volunteer first responders for their community. We work with the Fire and Emergency Service, medical centres and trained people in the community so that in a life-threatening emergency we can get someone to the scene as quick as possible. First responders are trained in CPR and are key to getting lifesaving treatment underway until the ambulance arrives.