Health officials are urging Christchurch residents to be cautious of a new, free street hospital attempting to soften the load on emergency services.
Former stripper Shane Casbolt has started up the service, and it's prompted a warning from St John Ambulance.
He already runs an ambulance service for events or parties, and now he's hitting the streets armed with medical supplies for a busy night of action.
"You get fights, often people with lacerations and cuts across the head - pretty much getting ready for anything at the end of the day," Mr Casbolt says.
He's started what he says is a new street hospital service, offering free medical attention and transport to people in need on Friday and Saturday nights in Christchurch's CBD.
"We're just going to provide a bit of an area where people can come if they need us or we can respond and pretty much do a bit of a primary care before we either call an ambulance or take them to a 24-hour doctors as well," he says.
But St John is warning people to be "very cautious" of dealing with the new service. It questions the volunteers' level of care and says it may not comply with industry standards.
But Mr Casbolt says that's simply not the case.
"All our staff have very strict qualifications when it comes to what we do. Our clinical manager writes out our staffs' ATP - authority to practise," he says.
Central Christchurch has a long history of drunken assaults, and if tonight's anything like usual, his team will be busy, with the CBD listed as one of the most violent locations in the country on a Saturday night.
The Christchurch District Health Board says it is watching the new service but declined to comment.
Newshub.
