As our hospital emergency departments buckle under the relentless demand, flow-on effects are being felt across the health sector.
Ambulances are spending increasing amounts of time waiting outside our ED's - and earlier this week, they were told to bypass Auckland Hospital, altogether.
All of this means that our health care workers are under increasing levels of pressure as they try to do their jobs.
First Union's Ambulance division says ambulance ramping is becoming increasingly common.
Here's the union's Amanda Rochester.
