15 Dec 2020

Emergency departments struggling across NZ - expert

From Morning Report, 6:40 am on 15 December 2020

A busy South Auckland urgent care clinic is stopping its overnight service, at the same time as Middlemore Hospital tells people to use urgent care to take the stress off its emergency department.

East Care has been running an overnight service in Botany for 24 years but says it can no longer afford to stay open past 11pm.

It says it gets no funding from the Counties Manukau DHB despite the DHB relying heavily on its service.

The DHB has put out a call for people to think twice before turning up at Middlemore's emergency department, saying it is struggling with "capacity."

Figures show a November spike in patients being cared for in corridors without privacy or monitoring equipment.

The president of the College of Emergency Medicine John Bonning told RNZ health correspondent Rowan Quinn Middlemore is not the only ED struggling.