Latest news with #ProMed
RNZ News
14-05-2025
- RNZ News
Dash-cam footage shows man taking ambulance for joy ride across Timaru
The owner of a stolen ambulance is glad the vehicle wasn't damaged during a joyride around the streets of Timaru. Dash-cam footage showed a man approaching the private ambulance early on Tuesday morning. Don Gutsell, paramedic and owner of ProMed, said the man drove the vehicle through thick fog, ran through a stop sign and reached speeds up to 82km/h before he abandoned it near Timaru's port - all in the span of around five minutes. The ambulance was left on and unlocked outside Timaru Hospital around 12:30am Tuesday, as Gutsell was inside preparing a patient to be transferred to Christchurch. "We were in the hospital for about 20 minutes. I loaded the patient up, went to come out, and the ambulance was gone," he said. "My heart sank and I thought to myself 'perhaps I've left the handbrake off and its rolled away'. "Because it was a foggy, cold night, we often leave the vehicle running and shut the doors and get the heater going full bore so that when they come out of the emergency department, they've got a very short space of time in the cold air and its back to being warm for them." Gutsell said he searched nearby streets to find the missing ambulance, but to no avail. He then called his wife, who tracked it down via Gutsell's phone which had been left inside. He arrived at the ambulance about the same time police arrived, he said. Nothing was taken and items like the med-kit were still intact and untouched, Gutsell said. "It was just parked up, lights were still on, motor wasn't running. This guy had just taken this thing for a joyride," he said. A police spokesperson said they were called around 12.55am on Tuesday morning to a Queen Street address, after a report of a vehicle being stolen. They said the vehicle was located abandoned about 20 minutes later and was returned to the owner. An investigation into the circumstances was ongoing. Gutsell said as a result of the theft, his patient was delayed in getting to Christchurch Hospital by around 90 minutes. "That's the sad thing. When someone needs to go to Christchurch at that time of the night, its not always life and death, but its for the betterment of the patient," he said. "For that person, essentially, they had to suffer for an extra hour and a half waiting for the ambulance." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
CBC
03-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
Nova Scotia Health taps HR firm to reduce MRI, ultrasound backlogs
Nova Scotia's health authority has signed a contract to bring in diagnostic imaging techs to help with backlogs for MRIs and ultrasounds. The health authority signed a one-year untendered contract with British Columbia-based ProMed HR Solutions in January, with an optional one-year extension. The contract, which could be worth as much as $17.9 million, is similar to those used with travel nurse agencies to address shortages among nursing ranks. The province's procurement rules allow the government to bypassing public tenders in circumstances deemed to be urgent, specialized or exceptional. A spokesperson for Nova Scotia Health described the deal with ProMed as a "no-spend commitment standing offer." "It's a pay-as-you-go type of environment," Health Minister Michelle Thompson said in an interview on Friday. Wait times for diagnostic imaging in Nova Scotia are among the longest in the country. Wait times by the numbers According to the most recent figures on the health authority website, 90 per cent of patients wait an average of 291 days for an ultrasound, while 50 per cent of patients wait 35 days. For an MRI, 90 per cent of patients wait an average of 335 days, while 50 per cent of patients wait 64 days. Information provided by the minister showed that from April to December of 2024, MRI volume increased by 69 per cent compared to the same period in 2023, according to the minister. Ultrasound volume has increased 41 per cent from 2020-21 to 2024-25. Thompson said the contract with ProMed creates an opportunity to bring in a new workforce as required. It will allow the health authority to extend service hours at some hospitals or temporarily fill vacancies that exist throughout the system. "We're working really hard to get those diagnostic imaging wait lists down," she said. "We need to look at where there are vacancies, where there's capacity and Nova Scotia Health will look at where those resources are required. It's a shame to have a piece of equipment sitting because of staffing [shortages]." While efforts continue to recruit permanent staff to fill vacancies, Thompson said the health authority must rely on private companies to help cover gaps. A health authority spokesperson said it's not possible to predict how many more ultrasounds or MRIs will be carried out as a result of the contract with ProMed.
