Hundreds of people turned up to an emotional public meeting last night after North Shore Hospital's emergency nurses declared a "state of emergency".
Both patients and nurses shared their experiences of New Zealand's health system and urged the government to improve staffing, funding and support for frontline healthcare workers.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) delegate Lesley Pook has worked as a nurse for 35 years and said this year has been the worst she's ever seen for the health sector.
"We had to defer 500 patients from across Waitematā in the last month," she said.
"We were told by someone in upper management that we weren't allowed give gold standard care anymore. We had to be giving bronze care. Which, to me, is unacceptable."
Pook was visibly emotional when saying it was up to the Government to take responsibility for the state of the healthcare system.
In another recount shared with the crowd at the meeting in Northcote, nurse of three years Sophie Tomes said the workloads can be crushing and she has worked shifts which she described as "traumatic".
Five hours into a 12-hour shift, she was experiencing such extreme pain that she ended up in the emergency department herself with appendicitis.
Tomes said she waited more than 24 hours in the corridors of the hospital before having surgery.
"Having experienced the healthcare system as both a nurse and a patient, it is clear there has been a failure to adequately plan," she said.
As a nurse it was her job to care for patients, but she asked: "Who is caring for us? "We cannot continue on this path. Our public health system was hard fought for, and we must fight for it again."
A recent patient of the North Shore Hospital Sarah Beck said she could clearly see how understaffed the wards were.
"The staff shortage was really noticeable. I was really quite distressed by what was happening in the medical ward I was in," Beck said.
Another patient recalled getting open heart surgery, only to find cockroaches in the shower of the recovery ward.
The Nurses Organisation, which called the meeting, said it had extended an invite to all the major political parties.
Labour's Shanan Halbert, New Zealand First's Daryl Harbraken, the Green's Hūhana Lyndon and Opportunity's Daniel Eb were there to respond to the pleas of nurses and patients.
National and ACT were not in attendance and Pook said they "should be really ashamed".
'Exhaustion has now boiled over'
TVNZ Reporter Gill Higgins recently wrote an article about her three week stay at North Shore Hospital and she said the difficulties faced by nurses was hard to ignore.
Higgins said the "exhaustion has now boiled over" for nurses.
"Many said they loved the job - and many said they were leaving it, because they couldn't cope any more. Others wanted to leave but stayed because they needed the income," she wrote.
In response to Higgins' article, Health New Zealand's Andrew Brant said staff deserve systems which allow them to provide safe and compassionate care for patients.
"Patients should not have to navigate long waits, stretched services or systems that do not connect smoothly while they are unwell", he said.
Brant also said Auckland's hospitals have been seeing increasing demand this year.
"In Waitematā, for example, emergency department presentations reached 13,869 in July alone, the highest July volume on record and an 11% increase compared with July 2023.
"Patients are right to expect better and we’re working to deliver it," he said.
Several of those attending the public meeting said health would be at the forefront of their mind when making the decision to cast their vote this election.
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