the above plus laryngoscopy, endotracheal intubation, capnography, cricothyrotomy, chest decompression, io access, io lignocaine, adrenaline, atropine, amiodarone, adenosine, calcium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, midazolam, ketamine, pacing, rocuronium, rapid sequence induction (select personnel only) additionally, there is a "first responder" level used for non ambulance work (such as events and non emergency transfers (pts)) as well as community first response in rural areas, as an initial starting point for those on the clinical education pathway (i.e. completing the diploma or above) or where the standard education pathway has been found unsuitable for a volunteer. it must be noted that this level does not have an "authority to practice" and does not independently utilise the clinical practice guidelines or many pieces of clinical equipment. the trustees of ambulance new zealand submitted an application to the minister of health in june 2011 that requested paramedic and intensive care paramedic be included as registered health professions and this is expected to be approved later in 2013. registration would mean that a responsible authority (ra) under the health practitioners competency assurance act would become responsible for governing paramedic practice in new zealand that practitioners would ultimately be responsible to this professional body which would be a significant change from the current "employer led" regulation. communications the ems system in new zealand is served by three dispatch centres, located in auckland, wellington, and christchurch. the dispatch centre in christchurch provides coverage to the entire south island, and is operated by st. john ambulance. the dispatch centre in auckland provides coverage for the north half of north island, and is also operated by st. john ambulance. the dispatch centre in wellington provides coverage for the southern half of the north island, is jointly operated by wellington free ambulance and st john ambulance but is staffed by wellington free ambulance personnel. all three dispatch centres collaborate, and are capable of handling overflow of call volume for one another. the communication centre technology is fully integrated and seamless, providing a single, 'virtual' national dispatch centre. to illustrate, if an emergency has occurred in christchurch but those 111 lines are all busy, the call will be forwarded to the dispatch centres in either auckland or wellington. the call will be answered, information gathered, and placed into the computer network. it will then appear as a pending call on the desk of the appropriate dispatcher in christchurch, all seamlessly. the national emergency number for ambulances in new zealand is 111. the three dispatch centres also include significant advanced technologies, including ampds and siren software for the triaging and assignment of calls. they also include a nationwide network of automatic vehicle location (avl), showing the location and current status of every ambulance in the country. all dispatchers in new zealand are certified emergency medical dispatchers (emds), and meet the international standard for that qualification. between them, the ambulance dispatch centres process approximately 300,000 calls per year originating with the 111 system. they also process an additional 800,000 calls per year from gps, hospitals requesting transfers, medical alarm monitoring companies, and from paramedics themselves. the telephone triage system used within the communication centres is the internationally regarded advanced priority medical dispatch system also known as proqa whereby the caller is interrogated to determine the most appropriate problem detriment to guide the level of response in terms of speed and clinical capability. colourclassification purplecardiac or respiratory arrest redimmediately life-threatening orangeurgent and potentially serious greenneither urgent nor serious greytelephone triage appropriate professional body paramedics australasia is the peak professional body representing paramedics throughout new zealand and australia www.paramedics.org. established in new zealand in october 2011, paramedics australasia provides representation on professional paramedic issues, advocacy before government, and responds to media comment on professional paramedic issues. paramedics australasia sponsors the annual new zealand national paramedic conference (spanz - in conjunction with student paramedics australasia) which alternates between aut university in auckland and whitireia polytechnic in wellington.