Emergency Department wait times are now the worst in at least a decade, with more than one in five people waiting at least six hours for treatment, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.

Data obtained by the Parliamentary Library shows that since Labour came into Government, there has been a marked decline in the proportion of people who go to the Emergency Department being seen within six hours.

“In the three months to the end of March, the proportion of people admitted, discharged or transferred from the Emergency Department within six hours of arriving fell to 78.5 per cent, the lowest in more than a decade,” Dr Reti says.

“It was the second quarter in a row that more than one in five people going to the Emergency Department has had to wait at least six hours for treatment, a sure sign that the system is not coping.

“When ED waiting times are unbearable, people simply leave – sometimes with tragic consequences.

“The full extent of the tragic ED wait time figures are only now laid bare on the Ministry of Health website after National pressured Andrew Little to reveal figures that were no longer being published.

“Exhausted, hard working ED staff see no support, hope, or plans in Andrew Little’s public statements. The Minister of Health urgently needs to refocus the $486 million being spent on health reforms towards relieving pressure in EDs.”