Ambulance services to get boost but won't be fully Government funded - sources

Ambulance services will receive a funding boost tomorrow, 1 NEWS understands, however not the full Government funding St John were hoping for. 

1 NEWS received confirmation from several sources that at 9am tomorrow, there is set to be an announcement around funding for New Zealand's ambulance services. 

Tomorrow's announcement has been labelled a 'band-aid' solution, which 1 NEWS was told will only last for two years.

The Government currently funds 72 per cent of St John's operating costs through the Ministry of Health and ACC.

The other 28 per cent, about $65 million, comes from ambulance charges and fundraising.

In the latest 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton Poll, New Zealanders believed St John Ambulance should be fully funded by the Government.

Of those polled, 88 per cent responded that St John should be fully funded by the Government, 9 per cent were against the idea and 3 per cent did not know.

St John is facing a multi-million dollar deficit and was demanding Government fulled funded the service.   

Health Minister David Clark told 1 NEWS in April he was not unsympathetic to the calls from St John.

"They do a great job, but there are a lot of calls on the health dollar."

Also in April, deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said the service was a "really critical and essential service around the country".

Between April 6 and 10, 1009 eligible voters were polled via landline and mobile phone. The maximum sampling error is approximately ±3.1%-points at the 95 per cent confidence level.