Patients left waiting in soiled beds at North Shore Hospital emergency department
Nurses at North Shore Hospital have reported a crisis in the emergency department, citing overcrowding and patients left in soiled beds. The staff claims that Health NZ failed to adequately plan for winter demand and hire promised personnel.
Why it matters
This highlights systemic failures in healthcare infrastructure and staffing, raising concerns about patient dignity and safety in public hospitals.
Patients are waiting in soiled beds at North Shore Hospital’s emergency department and nurses say conditions are so bad it “feels feral”.
One hundred and twenty nurses have written to Health NZ chief executive Dale Bramley, saying the ED is in its own state of emergency.
Health NZ had failed to plan properly for winter and had not hired the nurses it had agreed to, the letter said.
North Shore ED charge nurse Jean Classey told RNZ that the ED had been so busy it felt “feral”, with people unable to even fit in the waiting rooms.
It was hard seeing people crammed into corridors, and brightly lit public spaces with no privacy.
Sometimes incontinent people were waiting in wet beds until nurses could find a space to change them, she said
“It’s an absolute nightmare. It feels like we’re at war,” she said.
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