Summarised by Centrist
In a comment to Newsable, Australasian College for Emergency Medicine New Zealand chairperson, Dr Kate Allan said:
“Emergency departments are more over capacity than they ever have been… [but] I would be really loathe to attribute any blame or pinpoint any particular problem.”
Hmmm…
According to data from the Ministry of Health, the year ending July 2023 saw a staggering 752,000 adults seeking emergency care in NZ – the highest annual figure in over a decade.
The only descriptor given in the report regarding the types of afflictions faced by patients who are turning up in ever greater numbers, is that they are “very unwell” with “increasingly complex conditions.”
Allan vaguely attributes this surge in demand for ED services to factors such as difficulties in accessing primary care, difficulties in managing chronic conditions, and an ageing population, etc.
Editor’s note: For many, vaccine injury’s potential role in rising ED visits is the elephant in the room not being addressed. To be clear, we are not blaming vaccines, but the media’s omission of this dimension of the story (even to rule it out) potentially fuels mistrust and disinformation from fringe groups.
For us, this further highlights the need for an inquiry into the previous government’s COVID response with comprehensive terms of reference to help restore trust and answer questions.
