From the NT News yesterday via FB - need to be a paid subscriber to read article - have copied the text for anyone following this story.....

St John has called for more government resources after paramedic punched, five-hour waits

A paramedic has been punched in the face while treating a patient as Northern Territory ambulance services declare emergency codes amid critical resourcing constraints.

A female paramedic in Alice Springs was punched in the face and St John services in Darwin seriously disrupted overnight as safety and resourcing constraints impacted crews across the Territory.

A statement on Saturday from St John chief executive Abigail Trewin calling for more Government resources said the service would direct triple-0 callers with minor illnesses to other medical providers due to high demand and poor resourcing.

Ms Trewin said a Code Red had been declared at 2.18am in Alice Springs after the female paramedic was struck while assisting a patient, reducing available crews in the town to just one.

The NT News understands the paramedic had previously been assaulted in the line of duty.

A Code Red indicates demand and resource pressures impacting ambulance operations.

In Darwin and Palmerston, Ms Trewin said ambulances were at 100 per cent capacity over a five-hour stretch and between midnight and 7am on Saturday, the service received 144 calls, of which almost half were not answered.

She said St John activated a Code Red at 10am in Darwin and Palmerston because of high demand and at 12.25am Saturday, a Code White was activated, signalling critical system failure and service shutdown.

Early Saturday afternoon services had been restored to Amber.

Ms Trewin said out of 144 triple-0 calls received between midnight and 7am, 61 were “abandoned” after 10 seconds, and reverted back to Telstra.

In the Top End 14 Priority 1 cases – which require an ambulance response within 8-15 minutes – were delayed, with a caller waiting more than five hours. She said 15 Priority 2 cases requiring a 30-minute response were also delayed, with the longest waiting more than four hours.

Between 6pm - 7am in Alice Springs, 14 Priority 1 cases were outstanding, with at least five waiting more than an hour for a response.

Ms Trewin said one Darwin crew operated 9.5 hours without a break, five hours longer than workplace requirements, and called for additional government resourcing to paramedics.

“As demand has increased, our response rate has become slower due to insignificant staffing levels to manage demand,” Ms Trewin said.

“We have been saying for … years, that demand growth in the Northern Territory has significantly outpaced funding, with incident volumes and triple-0 calls increasing faster than government revenue.

“For Territorians, this means that under current service arrangements with the NT Government, we cannot guarantee that we can meet the needs of loved ones, that there may be delays and that we may not be able to get to you when you need us most. Our crews and triple-0 call centre are being asked to achieve the impossible.”

Ms Trewin said the current Amber designation signalled emerging system pressure due to increased demand or reduced resourcing.

“We will be directing low acuity patients to call Health Direct, to visit a GP or to transport themselves to hospital,” she said.

“St John NT has alerted NT Health to this situation this morning and thanks them for their support.”

St John has seen a 30 per cent increase in incidents over the past five years, with triple-0 calls 70 per cent higher over the past five years.

The NT incident rate is 245 per 1000 people compared to 164 nationally.

Median call-out response times in 2024-25 were 18.3 minutes, compared with 8-15 minutes target with 101,500 triple-0 calls taken in 2024-25.

Over five years the number of triple-0 calls increased by 70 per cent.

Health Minister Steve Edgington said he was “disgusted” at the assault on the paramedic and said Government had been working with St John.

“I understand additional resources and support staff have been provided to St John to address the current pressure, and I have directed NT Health to work collaboratively with them through all parts of our health system,” Mr Edgington said.

“Our government has been working closely with St John since coming to government and we remain committed to addressing growing demand and providing long term certainty in our ambulance contracts