Budget 2026: $35 million boost to ambulances
Friday, 22 May 2026
NZ First leader Winston Peters says it is a “big day for St John” and the people who rely on it, after announcing a $35 million Budget investment that will fund ambulance hubs, increase training for call centre staff and increase the number of welfare checks.
Health Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Health Minister Casey Costello made the announcement on Friday morning, joined by Peters, ahead of next week’s Budget.
The announcement is a win for New Zealand First, which secured a funding increase as part of its coalition agreement with National.
The funding includes the establishment of two ambulance hubs in Auckland, the deployment of an electronic patient clinical record system, additional training support for ambulance communications centre staff and additional clinical welfare checks for patients.
The investment will be in addition to a $77m increase in funding from Health NZ and ACC since 2023 for road ambulances to meet demand and cost pressures.
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Asked on Friday whether the new funding went far enough, Peters said it had been over a decade since St John first came to him and presented its case for more support.
“A lot has changed in that time, we’re in a very unstable world at the moment - fuel prices are huge. A lot of the world's heading for recession, and so the prospects we had back then and the positions we talked about then have dramatically changed,” he said.
“But the targets they asked us to set then, we've already met. They asked us to get to 90% [of funding] and we slowly got there. We've gone further than that, and I can't say where, because we're in negotiations.”
Peters said both the Government and the public had a role to play. “It's going to take both government and the public to get this very essential service, critical in a tourism-dependent economy, to where it should be.”
Brown said the announcement came on top of funding that will come as part of the contract negotiation.
“The contract negotiation will look at the uplift and look at the demand increase … it'll also look at cost price inflation, and to meet the needs of frontline staff.
“This Budget initiative will be on top of that to make sure that we can meet particularly growing demand in Auckland.”
This funding will increase frontline ambulance crews and 111 call handlers and boost recruitment and retention of ambulance volunteers - particularly in rural and high-deprivation areas.
It would also establish a clinical hub to provide telephone advice and support more patients access care without an ambulance response.
The total funding package to be finalised following negotiations for the next four-year contract.
Asked whether any amount of funding was ever enough, St John boss Peter Bradley said it was about getting the funding settings right.
“We've been putting in more than we can afford for all the right reasons, and now we want to reset that. So this is the opportunity to do that, and we're looking forward to the negotiations to get that reset right.”
Costello said the overall investment is expected to reduce avoidable emergency department transports by around 23,000 each year by 2029/30.
It would support the infrastructure needed to improve service delivery and meet future demand, she said.
Costello said the sustained investment supported record ambulance staffing levels, faster response times for the most serious emergencies, and more efficient use of resources.
Emergency ambulance demand expected to increase by 95,000 incidents over the next four years, to an estimated 735,000 incidents.
Costello said investment is critical to ensuring ambulance services can continue putting more crews on the road to meet growing demand, while maintaining safe and efficient services for communities across New Zealand.
Brown said strengthening ambulance services is part of the Government’s commitment to ensuring New Zealanders can access timely, quality healthcare when they need it most.