Back when she was healthy, Jane Harrison worked for the community \u2013 securing money for playgrounds, getting kids into sport and making sure her small town in New Zealand\u2019s South Island was ready if an earthquake struck.<\/p>\n
Now, she and her husband, Shaun Fitzgerald, 65, are both on disability assistance. Last year, when Fitzgerald \u2013 a roofer \u2013 was waiting for back surgery for spinal stenosis, Harrison left her job to help look after him at home. The operation in August 2025 was not as effective as hoped. He has since been back into the emergency department in intense pain, waiting for hours with severe cramping, she says. \u201cWe called the paramedics recently and they said: \u2018There\u2019s no beds in hospital, if we take you you\u2019ll have to sit and you clearly can\u2019t, you\u2019re better off at home.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, as he waits for another surgery to fuse his vertebrae together, he is hobbling around on a cocktail of daily painkillers, says Harrison, 60. She has long Covid, for which she has struggled to find assistance, and her health has also worsened. \u201cIt\u2019s countless trips to the doctor, it\u2019s so expensive, and you have to do it over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane Harrison at home preparing her husband\u2019s medication. \u2018We were energetic people, we\u2019ve worked all our lives, we\u2019ve paid tax.\u2019 Photograph: Joe Harrison\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
As New Zealand heads into an election in November, Harrison is among the 44% of the country for whom healthcare is their top concern \u2013 second only to the cost of living, according to Ipsos<\/a>, the political issues monitor. Stretched emergency departments, waiting times of months to see a family doctor, delayed cancer treatments and hard-to-access specialist care are common experiences for people across the country. Critics say chronic underfunding of the health system \u2013 exposed during the Covid pandemic \u2013 has further cratered under the National-led coalition.<\/p>\n For Harrison, her household\u2019s inability to access timely healthcare feels unfair. \u201cShaun was the biggest, strongest man \u2013 he was the guy who would pick up your fridge and put it on the trailer,\u201d she says. \u201cWe were energetic people, we\u2019ve worked all our lives, we\u2019ve paid tax. We never imagined we would be in this situation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should not be bed-bound and desperately trying to eke out money from the government.\u201d<\/p>\n ________________________<\/p>\n The state of healthcare in New Zealand has been thrown into the spotlight in recent months, with high-profile incidents including a man\u2019s death after collapsing in hospital toilets after a nine-hour wait at a busy emergency department at one of the country\u2019s biggest hospitals. A shortage of healthcare professionals is felt across the sector.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not enough beds, not enough nurses, not enough doctors at every level of the roster, not enough space,\u201d says Dr Katie Ben, an anaesthetist and president of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, a doctors\u2019 union.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a gradual decline but we\u2019re trying to do more with less and less and you just reach a tipping point.\u201d There are now 17 fewer nurses in Nelson, where she works, than three years ago; surgical wards were run from an earthquake-prone building, earmarked for replacement at least a decade ago, she says.<\/p>\n Nurses and doctors spoken to by the Guardian say their ability to provide safe care is being compromised, and that many are defecting to Australia, where they say the pay could be up to 30% higher.<\/p>\n Combined with the rollback of M\u0101ori-access initiatives<\/a>, millions dished out to private hospitals, and an aging population with higher health demands, Ben says a two-tier healthcare system is emerging where only those who can afford it can be seen. With one in four adults saying they can\u2019t access their GP, record numbers of patients are presenting to emergency departments.<\/p>\n Shaun Fitzgerald at home in Diamond Harbour as he waits for another surgery to fuse his vertebrae together. \u2018We called the paramedics recently and they said: there\u2019s no beds in hospital,\u2019 his wife says. Photograph: Joe Harrison\/The Guardian<\/p>\n In late August, criticism of the National-led coalition\u2019s approach to health ramped up when it was revealed only 54 additional full-time nurses had been hired since the government came into power<\/a>, not the 2,000 promised by health minister Simeon Brown.<\/p>\n Brown says the health system is \u201cmeasurably improving\u201d. Three-quarters of emergency department patients are seen within the target of six hours, and childhood immunisation rates and elective surgery waiting times have improved, he says in a statement. Spending more on private hospitals means 40,000 extra elective surgeries, he says. Brown concedes \u201cthe system remains under pressure, and too many New Zealanders are still waiting too long for care\u201d.<\/p>\n In comparison to healthcare in other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, data shows New Zealand hovers close to the middle<\/a>; its health expenditure per capita and the number of practising nurses are above average, but the number of hospital beds and doctors are below average.<\/p>\n The latest 1News Verian poll has the National and Labour parties tied on 28%, with the left-leaning Greens at 15%. National\u2019s current coalition partners ACT and NZ First are both polling at 10%, while the centrist Opportunity party is on 8%, and could potentially hold the balance of power<\/a> in a new government formed under New Zealand\u2019s mixed member proportional system.<\/p>\n