Hospitals across New Zealand are stretched to breaking point, with patients being treated in corridors, burnt out staff and climbing wait times, says a leading doctor.
Australasian College for Emergency Medicine President Dr John Bonning told The AM Show on Monday it's reaching crisis point.
He says the patients just keep coming and more resources are needed to deal with them.
"This has been coming for three years the volume of people presenting to emergency departments (ED) has increased and we've just hit the ceiling."
Dr Bonning says the issue isn't with ED - it's when these patients need to be admitted to hospital the issue starts.
"When they need to go to hospital those resources are not available."
Monday's are the worst - last week he says Middlemore had 60 patients waiting for beds, while Auckland had 40.
"It's repeated across the country."
To try and alleviate the pressure Dr Bonning says the Government needs to carefully allocate the funding it gives the health sector and ensure it's spread evenly across the country.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says help is on the way, revealing the Government has plans for a reform of the healthcare sector which it will announce in the coming weeks.
"We're very clear things need to change," she told The AM Show.
"In the next couple of weeks we will put out a blueprint for a new healthcare reform that is significant."
