\u201cWe\u2019re sinking quite quickly because people are so sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Vanessa Thornton, Health New Zealand group director of operations Counties Manukau, confirmed to the Herald that there were \u201c494 presentations to Middlemore\u2019s ED\u201d in the 24 hours from midnight on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cCounties Manukau has been experiencing some of its busiest days of the year this week, reflecting increased seasonal illness in the community. Monday saw our highest number of emergency department presentations this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health NZ did not respond to questions over whether Monday\u2019s figure was a record.<\/p>\n
A paramedic told the Herald two ambulance staff members were forced to treat nine patients in a hospital corridor \u201cbecause the hospital did not have capacity to accept them into the department\u201d. <\/p>\n
They said there were 223 patients in the ED that night. The hospital has \u2013 and is staffed to service \u2013 145 beds in the department. <\/p>\n
The paramedic said some of those patients had to wait three hours in the hallway, where they were given IV analgesia and had their vitals checked, which also made ambulance staff unavailable to respond to other emergencies \u2013 further compounding the situation. <\/p>\n
Paramedics were forced to treat patients in corridors as Middlemore Hospital’s emergency department reached capacity. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
\u201cNine people who were unwell enough to need an ambulance are sitting in a hospital corridor.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo paramedics are effectively \u2018babysitting\u2019 those patients because there is nowhere for them to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose paramedics should be available to respond to the next 111 call. Instead, they are stuck inside an overwhelmed hospital because the system has nowhere to put the patients already arriving.\u201d<\/p>\n
At one point that night, there were four ambulances that were stuck with patients in the corridor. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were just so many people, like, standing room only in the waiting room,\u201d the paramedic said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody told me that apparently Kidz First [Middlemore\u2019s children\u2019s hospital] were diverting patients up to Starship [hospital] because they were just overrun.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the staff are amazing, they\u2019re doing the best they can, but we\u2019re just overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Middlemore Hospital ED hit a record number of patients this week. Photo \/ Jason Dorday<\/p>\n
Thornton said demand at Middlemore\u2019s ED on Monday was \u201chigh, particularly with presentations related to winter viral illnesses\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cAmbulance arrivals were lower than usual, with most patients presenting as walk-ins to either our adult or paediatric emergency departments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile demand was higher than usual, patients continued to receive assessment and treatment, with those requiring the most urgent care prioritised first.<\/p>\n
\u201cCounties Manukau has implemented plans to deploy additional resources to help manage seasonal demand pressures. These plans are continuously reviewed and updated as demand and operational pressures fluctuate. We work closely with Hato Hone St John to manage pressures on ambulances and EDs through well-established protocols when demand increases.\u201d<\/p>\n
The paramedic said they have \u201cnever seen it so bad\u201d in their entire career. <\/p>\n
\u201cEven during Covid, we weren\u2019t ever waiting so long.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Multifactorial failure within the system\u2019<\/p>\n
The nurse said it\u2019s a symptom of larger \u201csystemic\u201d issues in New Zealand\u2019s healthcare system. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom where I sit and what I see as a nurse, we have a multifactorial failure within the system that\u2019s under-resourcing of both staff and equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s happening all over New Zealand. It\u2019s happening in all our ED departments. It\u2019s just no one\u2019s talking about it. And it happens every winter.\u201d<\/p>\n
They said healthcare workers are reaching their limit. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s this whole idea that, you know, coming out of Covid, that healthcare workers are superheroes. We\u2019re actually not superheroes. We\u2019re human.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get sick. We\u2019re part of our communities. People come to the hospital and they\u2019re sick. We\u2019re exposed to that sickness. So as quick as our communities get sick, we are getting sick as well. And possibly even sicker, quicker.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so the impact is that we then become more short-staffed. Then the call goes out for us to pick up extra shifts or extend shifts. And you become more run down. You then become more exposed to illness. It\u2019s a constant cycle. Staff become burnt out and then they choose to leave or they become desensitised. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to be that person that turns up with no compassion, but the compassion is dulled. And that\u2019s not what any of us nurses or doctors or any of the healthcare staff want to be. But we\u2019re so tired that people forget that we\u2019re human.\u201d<\/p>\n
Healthcare workers say they’re reaching their limit. Photo \/ 123rf<\/p>\n
The paramedic added similar concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs someone working on the frontline, what I am seeing is frightening. We keep talking about the health system being \u2018under pressure\u2019, \u2018stretched\u2019 or experiencing \u2018high demand\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose words no longer adequately describe what is happening. We are on the brink of collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thornton thanked staff for their \u201cdedication, professionalism and care as they continue to support patients and wh\u0101nau during this busy period\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike many healthcare providers across New Zealand, we are also managing increased staff sickness associated with winter illnesses, which can place additional pressure on services.<\/p>\n
\u201cAcross Health New Zealand hospitals, ED presentations increased by 0.4% between July 2025 and July 2026. Health New Zealand\u2019s hospitals, including Middlemore Hospital, are prepared for seasonal demand and remain open.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health NZ\u2019s advice to the public <\/p>\n
Thornton asked the public to consider \u201cthe range of healthcare options available\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe encourage people with non-emergency health concerns to consider the range of healthcare options available, including community pharmacies, GPs, urgent care clinics and Healthline [0800 611 116].<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone requiring emergency care should continue to call 111 or come to ED as usual.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs flu cases continue to circulate across New Zealand, we are reminding people that it is not too late to get vaccinated and that getting protection against the flu now can still prevent serious illness, reduce hospitalisations and protect vulnerable wh\u0101nau.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health experts are urging the public to get vaccinated as flu cases rise in winter. Photo \/ 123rf<\/p>\n
The nurse said for \u201clower economic communities such as Middlemore or Northland\u201d, there are \u201ccultural and socioeconomic\u201d and \u201chealth literacy\u201d reasons why other healthcare options aren\u2019t utilised. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have lots of cultures where the hospital is actually where you go to see doctors back in their country.<\/p>\n
\u201c[There are] perceptions where the doctors at the hospital are better than GPs … They actually don\u2019t understand that GPs actually see things like type 2 diabetes and blood pressure and those ongoing issues, asthma, eczema, those sorts of things. The GPs see them all the time, and they\u2019re actually experts in those areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s the cost pressures, like people might have outstanding bills at their GPs, so they don\u2019t want to go there, but they\u2019re not going to disclose that to us. Or they have to choose between going to the doctor or paying the power bill or putting food on their table or getting to work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019re sinking quite quickly because people are so sick.\u201d Dr Vanessa Thornton, Health New Zealand group director of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[19839,806,11519,110415,26034,15974,23546,134,527,4508,2241,78,31181,94502,111,139,4061,11515,69,221015,6293,5353,56769,19764,1974,5257,4525,17435,1961,14005,3257,5273,686],"class_list":["post-569652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-24hour","tag-as","tag-causing","tag-corridors","tag-department","tag-emergency","tag-forcing","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-hits","tag-hospital","tag-in","tag-labelled","tag-middlemore","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-number","tag-nurse","tag-nz","tag-paramedics","tag-patients","tag-period","tag-pretty","tag-received","tag-record","tag-significant","tag-something","tag-terrifying","tag-this","tag-times","tag-treat","tag-wait","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}