Health Minister Andrew Little made the shocking admission today that extra ICU beds won’t be ready until June next year, National Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.

“After spending the last year claiming everything was fine, the Government finally accepted the obvious last week and announced funding for new ICU beds.

“But today during Parliamentary Question Time, Health Minister Andrew Little admitted the much needed ICU beds won’t be ready until June next year.

“By that point we will be 27 months into a global pandemic.

“The Government has wasted the best part of two years pretending this wasn’t an issue and has now lost valuable time in building our Covid defences, putting the health of New Zealanders at risk.

“The Government’s failure to invest in ICU beds appears to be one of the reasons why Auckland is still stuck at the Red Traffic Light setting, despite being one of the most vaccinated cities in the world.

“New Zealanders deserve better and National will continue to hold this Government to account for its woeful lack of delivery.”