Medical
 
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Rescue is about getting people out of dangerous environments and more often than not these people will be injured. We have to have the resources and skills to provide a sound level of basic first aid.
The RATS team has a strong medical core and our assets include:
- Clinical Emergency Department Nurse
- Two St John Volunteer Paramedics (intermediate care officers)
- Two St John Volunteer Primary Care Officers
- The majority of remaining team members has Prehospital Emergency Care qualifications.
- Good supply of basic medical equipment with focus on trauma, wound and fracture management tasks
In June 2006 The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management supported the development of tiered medical response capabilities for New Zealand Response Teams
These tiers identify the capacity of each Response team in New Zealand to provide medical support in the event of a major incident. The long term goal being the provision of supplementary resources (mainly skilled staff) to support existing frontline prehospital medical emergency services.
The tiers are;
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2. M1 - teams have an increased level of medical equipment and trained staff to provide stronger front line resources.
3. M2 - teams with clinical support and resources to enable them to establish frontline casualty clearing posts and hold moderate to minor patients for a few hours in order to minimise the initial impact on tertiary medical facilities.
The core objective is not to replace existing medical response structures but to make sure that the patients that are treated and dispatched from the frontline are given appropriate treatment and triaged to the correct medical facility with the right information about their condition.
Given New Zealand's stretched and limited advanced care facilities, it will be critical to ensure the right people are sent to the right resources.
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