Frontline crews attended 551,399 incidents, up 17 percent since 2020. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Correction: St John initially reported frontline crews attended 551,399 incidents last year. They've clarified emergency ambulance service logged 551,399 incidents. This includes incidents which had a vehicle response as well as incidents where patients received the care they needed by a clinician over the phone.
The number of people calling an ambulance reached a record high in 2025, with St John attending nearly half a million incidents.
New national ambulance data shows there were 706,194 emergency 111 calls for an ambulance last year, an increase of nearly 30 percent compared to five years ago.
Emergency ambulance service logged 551,399 incidents. Frontline crews went to 459,870 incidents in the year.
St John Deputy Chief Executive Dan Ohs said the increase reflected wider system pressures, an ageing population and rising acuity.
He said people falling over was one of the largest drivers of ambulance demand, increasing eight percent from 2020 to 52,559 incidents, and disproportionately affected older New Zealanders.
"Falls are not just accidents, they are a major and growing health issue.
"Many falls are preventable, and when they do occur, early intervention can reduce long-term injury, loss of independence and pressure on hospitals."
St John said other preventable incidents increased massively, with drowning and diving incidents up 32 percent from 2020 to 582, animal bites and attacks rising almost 19 percent from 2020 to 1,212.
St John Deputy Chief Executive Dan Ohs. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
The number of cardiac and respiratory arrest incidents St John attended also rose five percent from 2020 to 5,750.
"Improving cardiac arrest survival is one of our most urgent priorities," Ohs said.
"Our data reinforces the importance of early intervention, community CPR training, public access defibrillators and seamless coordination from first call to hospital care."
In 2025, patients assessed as having serious but not immediately life-threatening conditions accounted for 43 percent of all incidents, and life-threatening cases made up a further 35 percent.
About 10 percent involved patients whose conditions did not appear serious, and 7.4 percent of incidents were resolved through clinical advice over the phone.
Māori patients accounted for 21 percent of all ambulance responses, an increase of 14 percent from 2020.
"This is a good thing from our perspective," Ohs said.
"We know tāngata Māori can feel hesitant to access healthcare, and it's great to see they are accessing our services when they need them."
He said St John was strengthening engagement with iwi Māori, improving culturally appropriate models of care and using data to better target services where inequities are greatest.
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