Full crewing means ensuring every ambulance is crewed with two qualified ambulance officers.

Single crewing is the backward and inadequate practice of having a single ambulance officer crewing an ambulance.

Literally, this means the single officer is expected to drive, lift and somehow care for a patient in the clinic of an ambulance.

Patients don't get the service they are entitled to from single crewed ambulances. Click here for more information.

Many rural and provincial areas in New Zealand continue to send out single crewed ambulances to every type of critically ill or injured patient, and to every type of dangerous situation.

Single crewing is unsafe for paramedics. Click here for more information.

Single crewing is routine in Whanganui, Palmerston North and Levin, and in the Whanganui, Rangitikei, Manawatu and Horowhenua.

Single crewing puts patients health at risk, and ambulance officer safety is compromised too.

The Ambulance Standard calls for full-crewing (NZS8156:2008).

The Ambulance Strategy calls for full-crewing. All urban areas with a population of more than 15,000 are to be fully crewed by 2012 - when will the recruitment of the hundreds of extra ambulance officers needed begin?

NZAA calls for full-crewing of all frontline (EAS) ambulances immediately.