Source: New Zealand Labour Party
When you’re rushing someone you love to hospital, they should be all you’re thinking about, not whether there’ll be a bed or a nurse when you arrive.
I’ve worked alongside doctors and nurses in our hospitals, and I know what it looks like when a department is stretched.
What’s happening in our emergency departments right now is far worse than stretched.
Patients are waiting far too long, some are being treated in corridors, and at Starship, children with cancer have had treatment delayed.
That’s why Labour has today published an ED Recovery Plan setting out how we’ll get people treated faster and make sure hospitals are there when we need them.
Our doctors and nurses are doing everything they can. But they’re at breaking point and can’t keep being asked to do more with less.
Christopher Luxon has made this worse.
He’s stopped hospitals hiring the staff they need. In two years, his government has added just 54 nurses to the public health system while graduate nurses struggle to find jobs.
GP fees have also go up 21% under National, leaving people unable to afford treatment until their conditions get worse.
Our plan starts with getting people care before they end up in hospital.
We’ll give everyone three free GP visits a year and make prescriptions free. We’ll also create more GP appointments and help doctors open clinics where communities need them.
When people need emergency care, we’ll get them treated faster.
We’ll end National’s hiring freeze, guarantee every eligible New Zealand-trained graduate nurse a job, get more hospital beds staffed and tackle delays that leave patients waiting in ED.
And we’ll help people recover safely at home.
We’ll train more paramedics to treat people in their communities and fund teams to help older people leave hospital safely, freeing up beds for others.
Read our full ED Recovery Plan here.
When you or your family need care, the bed, the nurse and the appointment should be there.
That’s the health system we’re fighting for.