Opinion: Andrew Brant at Health New Zealand responds to an article by TVNZ reporter Gill Higgins about her three-week stay at North Shore Hospital in Auckland.
Health New Zealand staff come to work every day determined to provide safe and compassionate care, often in very challenging circumstances. They deserve systems that support them to do that, and patients deserve care that is timely, coordinated and centred on their needs.
The recently published account of a patient's three weeks at North Shore Hospital noted the commitment and compassion she saw from staff caring for her but also demonstrated we must keep improving care and services in our hospitals. While we get it right for most people in our care, we know that isn’t always the case.
We are proud of work our staff are doing across the country to improve access to healthcare, but that goes hand in hand with acknowledging areas we must continue to address. Patients should not have to navigate long waits, stretched services or systems that do not connect smoothly while they are unwell.
They should feel informed, listened to, and confident that their care is coordinated.
The reality is that our hospitals are experiencing some of the highest levels of demand seen in recent years. Nationally, Health New Zealand has reported a significant surge in winter illness over the past month, with pressure felt across emergency departments, hospitals, ambulance services, primary care and community healthcare providers. The flu season has arrived later than usual and at a scale that has placed extraordinary pressure on health services across the country.
Alongside the care patients experience directly, extensive work is under way across the health system to prepare for demand and strengthen services.
This includes months of planning before winter arrives, workforce recruitment in a highly competitive international market, investment in additional capacity, work to improve patient flow, and the modernisation of facilities and technology. Together, these efforts support safe care for growing populations as demand becomes increasingly complex.
Nationally, we have been planning for winter since the start of the year. Our $25 million Winter Plan has delivered more than 277 additional full-time equivalent staff, supported by overtime, bureau staffing and additional duties, delivering the equivalent of 345 extra FTE across the health system.
The plans also delivered 103 additional hospital beds, access to a further 168 flexible beds, and hundreds of additional aged residential care placements across the country. New community-based services have also been established to help reduce pressure on emergency departments and provide people with alternative options.
In Waitematā, for example, emergency department presentations reached 13,869 in July alone, the highest July volume on record and an 11 per cent increase compared with July 2023. Yet despite that growth in demand, performance against emergency department shorter-stay measures improved over the past year.
Health New Zealand recently began recruiting more than 50 additional full-time equivalent nursing positions across North Shore and Waitākere hospitals to strengthen frontline services and support staff working in high-pressure environments. Additional emergency department nurses, healthcare assistants and surgical assessment unit staff are being added, alongside enhanced senior medical coverage during peak periods and additional ward rounds designed to improve patient flow and reduce delays.
We are also investing in our health infrastructure. Waitākere Hospital has seen significant investment in recent years, including new CT scanners, additional inpatient capacity, upgraded maternity facilities and Manaaki Hōhonu, a new inpatient ward and future ICU facility that represents the largest investment in the hospital in nearly two decades.
These improvements align with Health New Zealand's Infrastructure Plan, which is focused on modernising and expanding health facilities to meet the needs of growing and changing communities. Further planning is underway to ensure the Waitākere campus can continue meeting the needs of West Auckland's rapidly growing population.
In addition to these improvements, we need care to work better between teams and settings. That includes improving how information follows the patient, strengthening discharge planning, and expanding options such as Hospital in the Home so that, where clinically appropriate, people can receive specialist-led care safely at home rather than remain in hospital.
Patients are right to expect better and we’re working to deliver it.
Andrew Brant is Executive Director for the Northern Region at Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora.
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