The scathing review of Middlemore’s Emergency Department could be applied to more hospitals around the country as emergency department wait times soar, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.

“One of Labour’s first moves when it came into office was to scrap National’s Better Public Services targets, which included shorter wait times in hospital emergency departments.

“It’s tragic, but by no means surprising, that wait times in every area of health have got worse and have reached some of the highest levels on record.

“Since Labour removed targets, the national average of patients being seen within six hours in emergency departments has dropped from 91 per cent when National left office in 2017, to 78.5 per cent in March 2022, and this number is likely to have deteriorated further.

“Findings from the New Zealand Medical Journal in 2017 revealed that emergency departments were running more efficiently with targets, which were introduced by a National Government in 2009.

“The same report also found that having the targets resulted in fewer deaths among emergency department patients. In other words, targets save New Zealanders’ lives.

“Despite Labour pouring billions of dollars into health funding, struggling health workers aren’t seeing any benefits, and sick New Zealanders are being denied the health care they need.

“Health Minister Andrew Little is so focused on his bureaucratic health restructure that he has lost sight of what must be the first priority for any Health Minister – making sure New Zealanders have timely access to healthcare.

“A National Government will restore health targets and immediately put nurses on the straight to residency pathway.”

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