The number of Patients waiting more than 24 hours in emergency departments has tripled since the creation of Health NZ, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.

“The reason for centralising our health sector was that it would deliver better outcomes for all New Zealanders. However since HealthNZ’s creation almost a year ago, it has failed to deliver any improvements and has only made the health crisis worse.

“In the second half of 2021, there were 1,176 people who waited more than 24 hours in an emergency department. By the second half of 2022, the number had tripled to an unbelievable 3,600 people.

“When people are forced to wait that long, they often give up and go home which can lead to tragic consequences, as we have seen with the sad story of a patient at Middlemore Hospital last year.

“Unfortunately, this is what happens when the Government puts all the health budget, attention and resources towards a bureaucratic health restructure instead of investing in the frontline.

“The Health Minister’s core responsibility is to ensure that sick and injured New Zealanders are being seen in a timely manner. Instead, the Labour Government has delivered some of the worst wait times on record and is even failing to deliver accurate data on how the health sector is coping.

“All these failures are building up and I am concerned for what winter will bring for New Zealanders in need of urgent care.

“A National Government will prioritise the frontline by redirecting health restructure waste and invest it in our health workforce. We would also hold ourselves accountable by publicly releasing reported health data, including emergency department wait times.”

© Scoop Media