About Us

Wellington Free Ambulance partners with Homecare Medical to provide nurses in our 111 call centre,  helping assess and advise patients over the phone when their condition isn’t immediately life threatening.

If you call 111 and have a health worry that’s not a medical emergency, we take your details and our on-site nurse or clinical paramedic advisor will call you back within half an hour.

They find out more about your condition and work out the best sort of help. It might be an appointment with your GP, a different sort of health service or a visit from us.

Gregg Pickens who has been a nurse for eight years, is one of our team

He has worked in Australia and New Zealand across mental health, paediatrics, and adult medical areas, previously working at Hutt Valley Hospital.

Gregg explains the types of calls he usually gets are everything from back pain, abdomen pain, pregnancy and child issues, to chest pain and strokes.

“I enjoy being able to get the right help for the callers. Some of the memorable moments are getting a helicopter response for a teenager with a rolled ankle in the middle of the Tongariro Crossing and finding out on-assessment a patient has had a stroke and getting the right response for them,” Gregg says.

“The role is important as it helps divert patients from ambulances and onto the appropriate care they need. We can redirect patients to a suitable care setting whether that be the dentist, GP, an accident and medical centre or the emergency department.”

International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on 12May, the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of nursing.

We appreciate all of our Homecare Medical nurses as they work tirelessly to help patients in our community. Thank you for all you do!