Response to bus crashes lands Mackenzie medical team national award
Thursday, 26 March 2026
The Twizel Medical Centre has been recognised for its clinical leadership and response to two high-impact, multi-casualty double bus crashes in challenging conditions near Lake Pukaki.
The New Zealand Road Safety, Emergency Response and Healthcare Awards, which honours individuals and organisations committed to saving lives and improving road safety, were announced in a ceremony in Christchurch on Thursday afternoon.
The Twizel Medical Centre team won the 2025 National Award for Emergency Response and Healthcare for its response to two bus crashes on an icy stretch of State Highway 8, in heavy fog, at 8.30am on July 18, 2024.
“This award recognises distinguished individuals, groups, or organisations within healthcare and emergency services who demonstrate excellence in the acute management and care of road crash patients,” a citation from the awards said.
Emergency services and healthcare teams responded to assist the roughly 100 Chinese tourists on board. That response included emergency services and the medical centre’s PRIME (Primary Response in Medical Emergency) team.
As a service, PRIME operated as part of New Zealand’s rural emergency care network and involved specially trained rural clinicians to ensure patients received timely care when traditional ambulance services could be geographically limited.
“Working together with ambulance and emergency services, the team provided triage and treated multiple injuries, including lacerations, shock and trauma,” the citation said.
“The effort was highlighted by clinician Paula Trembath (the recipient on behalf of the team), who ensured all patients across both buses were triaged, as well as treating those who arrived at the Twizel Medical Centre afterwards.
“This was done amongst a myriad of trying conditions, such as the icy conditions and extremely thick fog which affected visibility severely in what was an already remote setting. Furthermore, the limited English of the tourists again hampered communication efforts.”
The PRIME team and the medical centre treated 46 of the passengers involved.
High Country Health Ltd board chairperson Simon Williamson said it was a privilege to accept the award.
“Through collaboration between primary care teams, ambulance services, and the wider health system, the PRIME program continues to enhance the safety and resilience of rural communities by bringing skilled emergency care closer to home,” he said.
“In rural communities like the Mackenzie basin, help can be a long way away and PRIME responders bridge that gap, bringing urgent care to people when minutes really matter.
“This recognition really reflects the commitment of PRIME responders everywhere who step up when their communities need them most.”
The South Canterbury Road Safety Team also received a one-off regional award for road safety for its programme to promote road safety.
The award had been established to highlight the strength and impact of road safety programmes in regional areas.
Timaru District Council general manager land transport Suzy Ratahi said she was delighted the team had been celebrated for its work.
“Over the past two years we’ve focused on continuous improvement, piloting new programmes and strengthening collaboration across agencies to ensure our efforts respond directly to the issues being seen locally, despite the de-prioritisation of locally delivered road safety promotion within the National Land Transport Programme,” Ratahi said.
Ratahi said the recognition was a “great way to acknowledge the collective effort going into making our roads safer and reinforces the importance of continuing to invest in initiatives that help prevent avoidable road trauma”.
“While the recognition focuses on the education programme, the impact we’re seeing is the result of strong partnerships across South Canterbury, particularly with colleagues working in engineering and enforcement.”
“We’ve also been encouraged to see strong community support, including private organisations stepping forward to help fund local road safety initiatives.”
Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora was also a recipient of the road safety regional award, and Safe System Solutions Pty Ltd and New Zealand Transport Agency were the joint recipients of the national award for road safety.
In 2022, Timaru man Andrew Tombs was recognised in the awards with the National Award for Community Service for his split-second decision at a crash scene that helped save a man’s life.
Awards executive committee chairperson John Barr said the medical centre's nomination was very impressive.
“The award puts the Twizel Medical Centre's amazing work out in the public domain and this is work that most people take for granted,” Barr said.
He said the awards ensured those who made significant and important contributions to road safety and emergency responses were recognised and celebrated.
“The awards are important for New Zealand as an effective way of recognising and celebrating these brilliant individuals and organisations that, without the awards, would fly under the radar,” Barr said.
“It is critically important that we must recognise our ‘tall poppies’ wherever we find them. They are securing our future on the road.”
Barr said the awards committee was delighted to note the increase in road safety nominations for this year’s awards and to celebrate and welcome the first Australasian award recipient.