Patients are questioning the compassion being shown to them during hospital appointments and health emergencies under COVID-19 alert level 3.
It comes as one woman speaks out about the experience she had while suffering a recent miscarriage alone - her husband was told he had to wait outside.
Lucy was referred to hospital last week to find out whether she'd had a miscarriage. She asked if she could bring a support person but was told she couldn't and had to receive the tragic news on her own.
"I think it delays the grief. You're trying to hold it together, you're trying not to cry in the hospital corridor until you see the doctor or the nurse, and then you just want to get out of the hospital and see your husband," she says.
Her husband paced the hospital car park for two hours while he waited.
"I saw you [Lucy] walk out of the hospital and your face said it all, but you jumped in the car and said 'oh, I'm not pregnant anymore'. And to hear that from your wife, it's just a different story really," he says.
But it isn't the only story of hospital restrictions. Tina Hawthorn's dad has terminal cancer and he has had to go to every appointment at Waitakere Hospital by himself.
"We got there, and it was like no you can't come in, and I broke down. My dad needed me, he needed someone with him," she says.
"You can't have someone tell you 'oh well you've got six months to live'. How would you feel being alone in that? It's just terrifying."
She says the Government is blinded by COVID-19, and the other health conditions are being disregarded.
"COVID-19 is number one and all of these are being graded underneath as to what's important. I'm sorry, everyone's health is important at this stage."
Auckland District Health Board (DHB) says the public can now bring a support person to an outpatient appointment. But DHBs across the country all have slightly varying rules on visitors and support people, with the majority approving requests on a case-by-case basis.
"You would have heard Dr Bloomfield speak many times about trying to create a protocol that really does give that flexibility on the ground to those who know their wards and know their spaces well," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said during a press conference on Tuesday.
But Lucy says something this important shouldn't be the luck of the draw and healthcare should be consistent.
"People are going out and getting takeaways, some people can work, go to the beach, some are having parties, and yet I'm going to the hospital alone about to face the hardest moment of my life."
While videos circulated online showing large groups of people gathering for their fast food fix, Lucy was left in a hospital room with a box of tissues having been told it was too risky to have her husband by her side.
