{"id":18307,"date":"2026-08-24T05:58:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T17:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=18307"},"modified":"2026-08-24T05:58:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T17:58:54","slug":"absolute-nightmare-patients-left-waiting-in-soiled-beds-at-north-shore-emergency-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=18307","title":{"rendered":"‘Absolute nightmare’ – patients left waiting in soiled beds at North Shore emergency department"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Patients are waiting in soiled beds at North Shore Hospital’s emergency department and nurses say conditions are so bad it feels feral.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One hundred and twenty nurses have written to Health NZ chief executive Dale Bramley, saying the ED is in its own state of emergency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Health NZ had failed to plan properly for winter and had not hired the nurses it had agreed to, the letter said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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North Shore ED charge nurse Jean Classey told RNZ the ED had been so busy it felt “feral”, with people unable to even fit in the waiting rooms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It was hard seeing people crammed into corridors, and brightly lit public spaces with no privacy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sometimes incontinent people were waiting in wet beds until nurses could find a space to change them, she said<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s an absolute nightmare. It feels like we’re at war,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Classey, like all the nurses in this story, is a NZ Nurses Organisation delegate which gives them some protection for speaking out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The vast majority of nurses in the department signed the letter to Bramley.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Health NZ said it had a winter plan running that was helping, but the emergency departments at North Shore and Waitakere Hospitals were having their busiest ever winter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Between them, there had been nearly 14,000 patients through the doors in July, it said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the nurses’ letter said the crisis was “entirely predictable.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Health New Zealand failed to adequately plan for winter demand, placing patients and staff at unnecessary risk,” it said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Some of the problems outlined included:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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