New MoU signed with Hato Hone St John

We are pleased to announce that the review of our Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hato Hone St John has been completed, and the new MoU is now operational.

This MoU outlines how our organisations work together to support the communities we serve, enhancing patient outcomes and strengthening our emergency response capabilities.

Hato Hone St John is the lead agency for medical responses across most of the country and they make all decisions as to how they triage patients and dispatch crews. Fire and Emergency New Zealand and our brigades operate in a support role, and we abide by Hato Hone St John’s decisions.

As part of the MoU, every brigade around the country can provide medical co-response alongside ambulance partners. There are also 58 medical first response brigades across the country. First-response crews have training and equipment equivalent to some ambulance crews. They can respond to a range of callouts and provide medical care until an ambulance crew arrives.

Fire and Emergency acknowledges the commitment and sacrifice our brigades demonstrate in their service to their communities as the frequency of medical callouts has increased significantly since the first MoU was signed in 2014.

We are committed to supporting our brigades, communities and our first responding emergency partners for the benefit of everyone.

The updated MOU is available for you to view here(external link).