It is about to get more expensive to use an ambulance.
St John will increase its patient part-charges from the start of next month as it deals with a sharp increase in demand.
The charge for an ambulance callout for a medical emergency will increase by $4, from $80 to $84. There is no charge to patients for accidents, which are covered by ACC.
Wellington-based St John operations director Michael Brooke told The Star the increase in charges was directly related to the increase in demand for ambulance services. In the year to June 2012, ambulances attended an additional 14,000 incidents - an increase of 4.2%.
The increase in demand was mainly related to medical work, in line with the increasing pressure on the health system from New Zealand's ageing population, Mr Brooke said.
Contracts with the Ministry of Health, ACC and district health boards funded about 80% of the ambulance service's direct operating costs. The shortfall was made up from community donations, fundraising, revenue from commercial activities, and the part-charges.
People who required an ambulance for a medical emergency would later receive a bill in the post and, while many people were happy to pay, some people could not or would not. These people would receive a reminder notice, but debt collectors were not called in.
''We're not going to follow someone through debt collection for a part-charge. We don't do that to people,'' Mr Brooke said.
St John was a charity and relied heavily on financial and volunteer support.
