{"id":590397,"date":"2026-09-04T22:23:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T22:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/590397\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T22:23:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T22:23:43","slug":"whangarei-hospital-ed-patients-treated-in-corridors-as-flu-surge-strains-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/590397\/","title":{"rendered":"Whang\u0101rei Hospital ED patients treated in corridors as flu surge strains staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

The hospital used \u201csurge capacity\u201d when the ED and wards were full, opening extra space for patients waiting to be admitted as part of this year\u2019s winter plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tito said the extra spaces were a corridor and the winter plan was still not properly resourced with the clinicians needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got the ability to open these extra beds, and that helps a little, but they don\u2019t have the staff to make it safe and allow that quality care to happen so people aren\u2019t sitting in corridors.\u201d<\/p>\n

In July, nurses warned they were worried someone could die awaiting care<\/a> in Whang\u0101rei Hospital ED.<\/p>\n

Since then, more nurses were burning out and getting sick, but little cover was available for sick leave<\/a>, Tito said.<\/p>\n

\"Whang\u0101reiWhang\u0101rei Hospital nurses say patients are being treated in corridors and staff are at breaking point. Photo \/ 123RF<\/p>\n

Nationwide tracking by PHF Science showed a large spike in hospitalisations for flu-like illness in August \u2013 the highest since records began in 2015 \u2013 driven by patients testing positive for influenza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Flu cases were impacting schools<\/a> and being felt in EDs across the country.<\/p>\n

Tito said understaffing and vacancies not being filled<\/a> meant Whang\u0101rei Hospital ED was unable to cope. <\/p>\n

\u201cStaff are in the office crying and needing counselling: they\u2019re stressed and it feels like we\u2019re back in a crisis state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nurses have been warned about chronic staff shortages across the hospital, with documents this month revealing tight controls on staff hiring nationwide to save money<\/a> in 2024-2025.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe PHF Science dashboard shows nationwide hospitalisations with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) has reached very high activity and is double the 2015-19 average.<\/p>\n

Tito said vacancy upon vacancy was mounting up<\/a>, and they were not easy to fill in Northland. <\/p>\n

Another Northland problem was the high number of acutely unwell patients not registered with a GP<\/a> or who had not been managed well in primary care, she said.<\/p>\n

A decision to send some north Auckland patients to Whang\u0101rei<\/a> due to crowding at North Shore Hospital had not made a noticeable difference to patient numbers, Tito said.<\/p>\n

Health NZ says everyone who needs emergency care will be seen<\/p>\n

Alex Pimm, Health NZ\u2019s group director of operations Northern, said the health system was managing exceptional demand with New Zealand\u2019s worst flu season in a decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhang\u0101rei Hospital emergency department is no exception and remains very busy and continues to experience high demand, particularly from seasonal illness<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"AlexAlex Pimm, Health NZ\u2019s group director of operations for Te Tai Tokerau, says Whang\u0101rei Hospital staff are working hard to ensure timely care. Photo \/ Denise Piper<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teams are working incredibly hard … The public can be reassured that patients are receiving adequate care in our emergency departments to maintain their safety and dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pimm said during busy periods, patients with less urgent conditions may experience longer waits but everyone who needed emergency care<\/a> would be seen and treated.<\/p>\n

He agreed \u201csurge capacity\u201d was used at the hospital when demand was particularly high, as part of winter planning.<\/p>\n

Pimm did not address the claim the areas were in a corridor and understaffed, saying they were \u201csupported by clinical oversight\u201d and help ensure patients continued to receive safe care.<\/p>\n

Health NZ was recruiting nurses, allied health professionals and doctors for the emergency department, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe acknowledge the pressure all of our staff have been working under during a demanding winter season, and I am grateful for their professionalism and commitment to patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Whang\u0101reiWhang\u0101rei Hospital is busy – not just in the Emergency Department (ED) but also in the wards. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Another part of the winter plan was to expand Whang\u0101rei\u2019s private urgent care service but the Northern Advocate revealed in July the expansion would not take place this winter, despite queues out the door<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pimm said the service\u2019s hours would extend incrementally over the coming year.<\/p>\n

Health NZ was also working with primary and community healthcare providers across Te Tai Tokerau to help people access the right care in the right place, he said.<\/p>\n

Occupancy and capacity information not available<\/p>\n

Health NZ said questions about ED occupancy and the number of times the ED went into Code Red had to be addressed through an Official Information Act request.<\/p>\n

However, the organisation was unable to answer the Northern Advocate\u2019s questions on this topic sent in July, despite a statutory requirement to do so within 20 working days, saying it needed more time.<\/p>\n

Pimm did not provide a direct response when asked why Health NZ was unable to provide this information.<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hospital used \u201csurge capacity\u201d when the ED and wards were full, opening extra space for patients waiting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[806,682,13853,110415,5981,380,26034,13973,15974,1379,134,527,20557,2241,78,111,139,9709,69,6293,6926,1516,290754,1515,1120,42032,23505,1869,8598],"class_list":["post-590397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-as","tag-being","tag-code","tag-corridors","tag-daily","tag-decade","tag-department","tag-ed","tag-emergency","tag-flu","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-hitting","tag-hospital","tag-in","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nurses","tag-nz","tag-patients","tag-season","tag-staff","tag-strains","tag-surge","tag-takes","tag-toll","tag-treated","tag-whangrei","tag-worst"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590397","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=590397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}