At The Common Room Ian Powell outlines our scary public hospital crisis :
On 9 February 2023, TVNZ’s 1News revealed some data that should alarm us all: that our hospitals had hit 100% occupancy more than 600 times in 2022. That is, on average, each day, roughly two public hospitals around the country were running at an occupancy higher than they were resourced for.
If anyone doubts that our public hospitals are in crisis, this fact alone removes any doubt. Arguably it is worse than crisis – it’s a scary crisis +!
A 100% occupancy rate is heaven for hotels. But it is hell for hospitals. Behind it is ‘bed blocking’; that is, patients can’t get admitted to the wards from the emergency department because they are already fully occupied. Emergency Departments become overcrowded. Within the hospital system, diagnoses and treatment are delayed, and planned surgery cancelled. Even the…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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