Health NZ says some patients at Waikato Hospital's emergency department have experienced wait times of up to 24 hours, as it undergoes two reviews following a man's death while waiting to be seen.
Yesterday, it was reported that a patient died in a toilet at the emergency department of the hospital after waiting more than nine hours to be seen.
A witness, who was at the hospital shortly after the man was found unconscious by a member of the public, said family were there and were "distraught".
It's understood the man, aged in his mid 50s, had presented at the emergency department at 3.40pm on Monday.
Speaking to Breakfast, Health NZ executive regional director Cath Cronin confirmed that he came to the ED and was "waiting a longer time than we would have expected".
"I'll just confirm that this man arrived in ED, he was triaged, and so he was seen by the team, and he was observed by the team.
The patient died in a toilet at the emergency department of the hospital. (Source: 1News)
"I can't go into details, because really that first clinical review is where we're going to get the facts of what happened, and the clinicians looking at that will go into every detail," she said.
Asked about the maximum wait time people may experience at Waikato ED, Cronin said she would "have to look at that data and bring it back to you to be accurate".
Breakfast presenter Tova O'Brien asked: "Are people waiting more than 10 hours? Are they waiting more than 12 hours? What kind of times are we talking about?"
Cronin responded: "That wouldn't be an unusual time, and I think that some months ago we had some patients waiting 24 hours.
"And the team have worked, and that's reduced considerably. We're very rare now to have a patient waiting that long, and we've got additional beds open to be moving those patients through."
Asked what else the hospital needed to do to reach Government targets, Cronin said some improvement had been made, but that there was "still work to be done".
"That is a tragic event, and that we're going to be looking into, but we're sitting at about 74%, which is still a way to go to the milestone of 77% for the winter, and we'll be striving for 95% so that's what we need to be to be working on.
"There's been great improvements for Waikato, but we are very honest and say there's still work to be done there."
Health NZ has a 2030 target of 95% of patients being admitted, discharged or transferred from an ED within six hours.
The most recent data shows nationally it’s sitting at 74.4%, with Waikato Hospital at 66.5%.
Asked about support for the man's grieving family, Cronin said staff from the hospital had contacted them and extended sincere sympathies.
"They were with them at the at the time, and they've been in contact with them after, and we'll continue that as much as they need from us, and really they're waiting for us to be able to answer their questions."
Yesterday, Health Minister Simeon Brown said he wanted to be "kept closely informed of the rapid clinical review's findings" following this incident.
"The individual's family will rightly want answers, and Health New Zealand has assured me they will get them," he said.
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins added that it was "not good enough".
"The Government have been denying the crisis in hospital emergency departments, despite the fact those people working in those emergency departments are saying the hiring freeze has had an impact, the Government’s spending cuts have had an impact, and they’re asking for better. The Government must take this seriously."
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