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By Ellen O’Dwyer of RNZ

Health New Zealand has apologised to a woman who spent 11 and a half hours at Wellington Hospital’s emergency department, but was never seen by a doctor.

The agency said that on the day she visited in early December, the emergency department reached 256% occupancy at some points, making it one of the ED’s busiest days in recent years.

The woman, who RNZ has agreed not to name, said she had been experiencing severe abdominal pain and fevers for about 24 hours, she rang Kenepuru Hospital which advised her it was best to go to Wellington Hospital.

She arrived at the emergency department about 12.30pm on December 1, talked to reception and saw a triage nurse, she said.

“Throughout the waiting time, I was experiencing severe spikes of pain, so I’d go back to the triage to get pain medication, and they would get signatures to give me pain medication, and I would go back to the triage person to follow up around time.”

A woman spent 11 and a half hours at Wellington Hospital's emergency department, but was never seen by a doctor. Photo / 123rf

Her blood tests were taken after several hours, she said, but the pain wasn’t subsiding and she wanted to see a doctor to understand what was going on.

She became “visibly upset” and “frustrated” after 10 hours waiting, she said, at which point staff asked if anyone had talked to her about her blood test results.

She described the experience waiting in pain as “scary”.

“I was in pain and I was feeling nauseous, and at that point afraid if I didn’t get seen, or if I went home wasn’t sure what was going to happen ... I wouldn’t have come in the afternoon around 12pm if I didn’t think it was important to be there.”

After about 11 hours, she said she asked to talk to the charge nurse about the delay in seeing a doctor.

“The charge nurse spoke to me and said that they were struggling to see everyone in a reasonable timeframe because of staff constraints, and that even if they could see me, there wasn’t a place to put me, there was no space.”

She said she left with her husband shortly after 2am the following morning after being told it wasn’t clear when she could be fully admitted into the hospital.

The woman said she tried to “push through the pain”, and on a work trip to Christchurch the next day, started to throw up and went to a 24-hour surgery.

She said she was soon after transferred via ambulance to Christchurch Hospital, where she said she had a range of tests, including CT scans and further blood and urine tests.

She said while she understood some of the pressures Wellington Hospital was under, she felt the communication at Christchurch Hospital was clearer, more understanding and more efficient.

“I think the system is overwhelmed in Wellington at the moment.”

Hospital’s occupancy reached 256% ‘at some points’

The woman submitted a formal complaint to the hospital, and in its response to her, which RNZ has seen, the ED’s operations manager, Julia Mitchell, apologised for the long wait to see a doctor, saying it was not “reflective of the standard of care we strive to provide”.

“We completely understand and share your concerns about the long wait times, and we sincerely apologise for the distress this may have caused you,” Mitchell said.

December 1 was one of the hospital’s “busiest days in recent years”, she said, and when the woman arrived at ED just after 12.30pm, occupancy was at 145%.

“... This only got worse through the day, up to 256% at some points”.

“When the hospital inpatient service is also over capacity, this impacts on our ability to move those who require it into inpatient wards. Both situations affect our ability in ED to see patients in a timely manner,” Mitchell said.

Health NZ’s target is for 95% of patients to be admitted, discharged or transferred from an emergency department within six hours by 2030.

Capital and Coast has the second worst-performing ED in the country for this target, achieving the six-hour target only 50% of the time, according to Health NZ’s latest July to September 2025 results.

A Cabinet paper released last year seeking budget approval for a refurbishment of the site said Wellington ED’s services couldn’t meet demand, and had a constraining layout meaning one in 10 patients didn’t wait to see a clinician, and one-third of patients were being treated in corridors, rather than cubicles.

The Government announced last June that Wellington Hospital would receive a major upgrade, with a new emergency department and 126 additional beds and treatment spaces.

‘Very sorry’ - Health NZ

Health NZ did not respond to RNZ’s questions about what Wellington ED’s current average wait-time is, or how many times the ED has reached over 100% occupancy in November or December.

Capital Coast & Hutt Valley group director of operations Jamie Duncan said the hospital had not reached the same levels of occupancy as it had on December 1 by mid-December.

“We are very sorry for the upset and distress this patient experienced during her visit to Wellington Hospital’s Emergency Department on December 1,” Duncan said.

The patient was triaged on arrival and given a code of 3 due to pain - her vital signs were normal, she was given pain relief, had blood tests taken, which were reviewed by a senior medical officer and found to be “normal”, he said.

“Unfortunately, the day she attended was an extremely busy day for the department.”

He said when patients are triaged they are prioritised according to clinical need, rather than the order they present.

“All decisions are made on a case-by-case basis by experienced clinical teams, with patient safety always the foremost consideration

“While we aim to treat and discharge patients as efficiently as possible, we recognise how frustrating it can be to wait, and we genuinely empathise with anyone who experiences this.”

- RNZ