'Postcode lottery': Nine paediatric respiratory doctors from two regions serve whole country
A new audit reveals that New Zealand faces a 'postcode lottery' for pediatric respiratory care, with only nine specialists serving the entire country. The findings highlight significant gaps in healthcare access, particularly for children in regions outside of Auckland and Christchurch.
Why it matters
The shortage of specialists in critical pediatric care poses a severe risk to public health and highlights systemic inequality in medical service distribution.
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A child's access to life-saving specialist respiratory care in New Zealand may depend on where they live .
There are just nine public respiratory paediatricians serving the entire country, with 14 regions reporting no dedicated service, or no service available at all.
Those figures come from a new national audit done by Asthma NZ and the University of Auckland, which highlights significant gaps in respiratory care.
Asthma was the number one condition causing potentially avoidable hospital admissions for children under five in 2025.
Data from 2023 showed respiratory diseases were the country's third-leading cause of death.
University of Auckland respiratory health expert Amy Chan, who carried out the audit, said the data provided a map of where respiratory services were and what they looked like
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