Orthopaedic surgery wait times in New Zealand are "devastating" for patients, according to surgeon Haemish Crawford.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Crawford said the issue is nationwide and hospitals across the country are struggling.
"I think it's [because of] a combination of things, at the moment we haven't actually got to our pre-Covid levels of work so you know, you've got 490 orthopaedic surgeons just chomping at the bit to try and do more within the public hospitals and we just don't seem to be able to get through the number of patients.
"There's empty wards, there's lack of staff, there's less theatre utilisation, there's just a lot of road blocks at the moment to try and move forward, to try and improve things."
He said orthopaedics has always been the speciality with the most patients that need surgery, and if they can't get back to pre-Covid levels of work things will continue to fall behind.
"It's devastating and it's got our members down, having to spend a lot of clinical time actually just counselling people as to the wait and, you know, if you talk to the Health and Disability Commissioner the number of complaints now is from unmet expectations of patients.
"I think what would be really helpful would be for Te Whatu Ora to actually give the public reasonable time frames to treatment rather than this continual 'we're trying to get four months, we're trying to get six months'. It's unrealistic at the moment.
"I think it would be best if the public had realistic expectations, understand that it is a difficult time, we are trying to do better and I think if the public knew realistically what they can expect, they'd be a lot more happy and maybe confident in the system."
Breakfast also spoke to Kiwis who have experienced first-hand the consequences of long waits.
Emma Everett said she has been waiting for spinal surgery for more than four years and the pain is unbearable.
"My daily life is getting really hard to live with the pain. It's constant complaining and I'm one for being busy and working and keeping a clean house and running round with my children, and my children are my biggest concern because they're the ones who are missing out on a lot of things that I should be able to do with them but I can't."
Another patient, Archie, hurt his leg in November last year and it is now deformed.
His parents said he had an MRI in December but they are still waiting for him to see a specialist.
"He's grown a lot, his leg is very well-deformed now and he's living in pain."
They said Archie's case was classified as semi-urgent and they were told the waiting time is approximately 26 weeks.
"Half a year, that's before you even see anybody, how crazy is that."
Health outcomes go backwards under Labour - Luxon
Also speaking to Breakfast this morning, National leader Christopher Luxon criticised the healthcare system's long wait times, saying "every single health outcome has gone backwards under this government".
The National leader says wait times in the healthcare system are "heartbreaking". (Source: Breakfast)
Luxon said a lot of money is going into the Government building a "massive health bureaucracy" in Wellington rather than having that money at the front line.
"You heard in the interview with the orthopaedic surgeon Haemish, there are actually empty wards and we can't use those facilities, so what's happened is all the focus has gone into building the bureaucracy in Wellington and the focus and the eyes have come off the attention of the front line services that have been offered to New Zealanders and it's no surprise that every single health outcome has therefore gone backwards."
He said the money needs to move from the centre, back to the front line.
Luxon added that if he becomes prime minister, he will "seriously retool" Te Whatu Ora.
"We have to make sure that we've got regional responsiveness to those front line services."
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