St John says there are logical reasons for the apparently large number of single-crewed responses, and front-line rostered ambulances have not, to the best of managers' knowledge, been sent out with only one officer on board.
However, the union representing South Island ambulance officers says some St John front-line staff claim they have had to respond single-crewed to incidents and are concerned about their own and patients' safety.
It is understood one of the concerns raised with the Amalgamated Workers Union is that front-line ambulances are on occasion left single-crewed at night, with officers reliant on on-call managers for backup.
But St John Southern regional operations manager Doug Third said yesterday that, to the best of his knowledge, that had not happened.
He said a recent bulletin to southern staff, saying the present financial environment prompted better management in recalling off-duty staff, did not mean rostered front-line ambulances would be short-crewed.
So far, any sickness or leave had been covered by recalled staff, as was normal practice.
He said he was aware of one day in recent weeks where no off-duty ambulance officers were available to cover an illness, so one of the five ambulance-trained management staff in Dunedin covered for the day, and was called out several times.
However, recalling off-duty staff was preferred, so management staff could keep on with their own jobs, he said.
Of the 292 incidents in Dunedin that were recorded as having a single ambulance officer respond, about 10% were management staff who were also qualified ambulance officers or paramedics, he said; or they were paramedics at the Helicopter Otago base sent out in a St John vehicle as a first response, until a front-line ambulance was available.
The bulk of the rest of the callouts were the officer driving the on-duty patient transfer vehicle being diverted to an incident, for the same reason.
In both cases, double-crewed front-line ambulances were sent to the callouts as backup as soon as possible.
This was dependent upon the priority of the call, as judged by the first responder; and upon other jobs to which the ambulance was responding.
The system had to be run the most efficient and practical way it could. Southern management felt things were working well, Mr Third said.
However, Amalgamated Workers Union (southern) secretary Calvin Fisher said the single-crewing issue had been brought up at at every gathering during a recent round of stop work meetings the union had organised.
Ambulance officers are talking to St John about crewing and staffing issues.
Mr Fisher cited an incident where an ambulance officer had been challenged by a person's family and members of the public when the officer had turned up to an incident single-handed.
"The issue is serious. There is a public perception that they will get two officers when they call an ambulance, and officers are telling us they are being challenged when they turn up alone.
"Officers are compromised when a funding crisis behind the scenes generates on to service on the street," Mr Fisher said.
But Mr Third said neither he, nor the coastal Otago operations manager David Jasperse, had received any complaints from ambulance officers or the public about single-crewing and he (Mr Third) had never encountered any similar comments when responding to incidents by himself.
Mr Fisher said St John was taking a calculated risk that could go wrong at any moment.
St John ambulances responded to 3466 incidents in coastal Otago in November and December, including 467 incidents where a single ambulance officer responded in the first instance, Mr Third said.
He acknowledged that St John struggled in rural areas where there were issues with not having enough volunteers.
In Owaka, for example, 40% of calls (10) were responded to by a single-crewed ambulance in November and December.
