An emergency call concerning a Queenstown skydiving accident was delayed because of a St John computer glitch.
The ambulance service describes the technical problem as a ''one-off'', which occurred at its Auckland emergency control centre on September 27.
That was the day an NZONE skydiving cameraman was seriously injured after a hard landing at Jacks Point, near Queenstown.
St John South Island communications manager Ian Henderson confirmed the glitch after it was mentioned in emails requested under the Official Information Act from Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne.
He also confirmed the skydiving accident emergency call was delayed. ''I understand the technical issue meant there was a delay of around four minutes.''
A server disk on St John's computer-aided dispatch system was subsequently replaced.
Mr Henderson said St John had back-ups, the incidents it was called to were managed effectively and there were no ''adverse outcomes''.
The Queenstown skydiving accident call was received at 1.35pm on September 27, when one ambulance was taking a patient to Lakes District Hospital and the other was heading to the Remarkables ski area.
Once the patient was dropped at hospital, the ambulance was assigned the skydive job at 1.48pm, arriving
at 2.01pm. The injured cameraman was taken first to the local hospital, then helicoptered to Dunedin.
Mr Henderson said, ''I would like to emphasise that this technical issue and also our ambulance resources being committed to other incidents was very unusual.''
NZONE Skydive business development manager Derek Melnick said, ''It took an extended period of time for somebody
to get out here and attend to the guy.''
He said any additional resources to boost St John would be well received. The injured cameraman is out of hospital and now in a rehabilitation centre.
Mr Melnick said he was expected home in a couple of weeks. - Mountain Scene
