St John secures ambulance contract extension

St John Ambulance WA, which is one of the state's largest not-for-profit businesses with annual revenue of $280.6 million, has been awarded a two-year contract extension by the state government while a broad review of its service is undertaken.

St John has grown revenue every year for the past decade and is now ranked on the BNiQ Search Engine as the seventh largest not for profit business in Western Australia, ahead of aged care groups Silver Chain and health insurer HIF.

Under its contract extension, St John will provide all road-based patient transport services for the state's public hospitals, along with pre-hospital care and casualty transport services in the event of a major incident.

The contract also includes the provision of the state operations centre, which fields emergency calls, and ancillary services.

The value of the contract was not disclosed, but St John was awarded a three-year contract in 2015 for similar services worth $421.8 million.

Its 2017 annual report said it earned $117 million from ambulance services and was paid a further $72 million by the Department of Health.

Last year, the organisation attended more than 300,000 ambulance cases, received 574,479 calls in its triple zero state operations centre, and ended the financial year with a surplus of $17.4 million.

St John said its move into primary health and urgent care, which was launched with the purchase of Apollo Health in June 2016, had also been successful, with 269,537 people visiting one of Apollo's GP or urgent care services.

Health Minister Roger Cook said a new contractual framework would be developed over the next two years.

“A two-year contract extension will enable the state to develop a contemporary contractual framework which will ensure the future needs of the Western Australian community are met," Mr Cook said.

“A contemporary contractual framework will ensure the State receives the best service and care for the Western Australian community.

“We are pleased to continue to partner with St John Ambulance WA who deliver a critical health care service to the state that plays a vital role in our world-class health system.”

A St John spokesperson said the business was pleased to have signed a two-year extension.