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. 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. See also Wellington Free Ambulance St. John Ambulance in New Zealand References External links Articles containing video clips