Labour's ED Recovery Plan

When someone you love needs emergency care

Right now, emergency departments are overcrowded, patients are waiting too long, and doctors and nurses are under enormous pressure. Some patients are being treated in corridors because there is nowhere else for them to go.

Labour points to what is happening in hospitals around the country:

• At Starship, kids' cancer treatment has been delayed.
• At Tauranga Hospital, ED staff reported working at 150-200% capacity.
• North Shore nurses described days with three times the patients the department was staffed to care for.
• Wellington Hospital's ED was at code red for 84% of August.

National has stopped hospitals from hiring the staff they need. Over the past two years, Christopher Luxon's Government has added just 54 nurses to the public health system, while newly qualified nurses have struggled to find jobs.

Far too many people can't afford an appointment or get one when they need it, leaving illnesses untreated until they turn into a trip to the ED.

Patients that need a hospital bed are often left waiting in ED because wards lack staffed beds. Others stay in hospital longer than necessary because support is not available at home.

Our healthcare staff are doing everything they can under huge pressure. But they're at breaking point and cannot keep being asked to do more with less.

Labour's plan

Labour will act on each part of the problem:

• Make seeing a GP free, so people can get care before they need a trip to the hospital
• Create more GP appointments and back more local GPs
• Strong leadership from day one
• Making sure EDs are there when people need them, including getting more nurses into our health system
• Getting people the right care in the right place

Our ED recovery plan starts with primary care

Making it cheaper to see a GP is essential. But free visits are only part of the answer. People also need an appointment when they are sick, and a local practice that can take them on. Regular care from the same GP helps prevent avoidable hospital admissions. Free prescriptions also help people get the medicine they need so their health doesn't get worse.

Three free GP visits a year

When money's tight, the cost of seeing a doctor is another bill many families struggle to afford. Around 650,000 New Zealanders can't afford to see a GP or nurse practitioner when they need to.

Labour will give every New Zealander three free GP visits a year through a new Medicard, saving the average household around $366 a year. This will put money back in families' pockets while helping people get checked and treated earlier.

Free prescriptions

Labour will make prescriptions free so that cost does not stop people collecting the medicines they need. Being able to collect medicines can help keep manageable conditions from becoming serious.

A New Zealand study found an association between not collecting prescriptions and a 34% higher likelihood of being admitted to hospital. Free prescriptions could help prevent around 27,000 avoidable admissions to ED over three years.

Free up around 4.5 million GP appointments a year

One in three people now waits more than two weeks to see a GP. Labour will help GPs make better use of clinical time and free up around 4.5 million appointments a year. We will support:

• Phone triage, so people are directed to the right care and appointments are available for those who need them.
• Better information for patients, so people have more help to manage long-term conditions.
• Technology that reduces paperwork, including AI tools, backed by a new Digital Innovation Fund.

These changes will give GPs more time with patients. More appointments mean people are less likely to go without treatment or turn to an overcrowded ED.

Back more local family doctors and clinics

Labour's Family Doctor Loan Scheme will help doctors open new clinics or expand existing ones where communities are struggling to get care, particularly where there is no GP clinic or practices have closed their books to new patients.

From 1 July 2027, up to 50 loans will be available each year, capped at $500,000, to help doctors buy into an owner-operated practice.

Free GP visits, free prescriptions, more appointments, and more local clinics will help people get care close to home, rather than going without treatment or ending up in ED because they had nowhere else to turn.

Prepare for winter before hospitals are overwhelmed

Winter illnesses put predictable pressure on hospitals. Labour will restore early winter planning on day one and bring together information from community health services, ambulances and hospitals to identify rising demand. Regular national and regional warnings will help services prepare staff and capacity before EDs are overwhelmed.

Put public health needs at the centre of vaccine decisions

Vaccines protect individuals and reduce the spread of illness across communities. They can also reduce the number of people who become seriously ill and need hospital care. Decisions about the national vaccine schedule should take account of those wider benefits.

Labour will put the Public Health Agency in charge of deciding the national vaccine schedule and who is eligible. We will direct it to keep the schedule up to date and ensure it meets New Zealand's health needs. Pharmac will continue to negotiate prices, supply and contract terms. This follows a recommendation from the 2022 Pharmac Review.

Free GP visits, free prescriptions, more appointments and more local clinics, and better planning will help people get care close to home, rather than going without treatment or ending up in ED because they had nowhere else to turn.

Strong leadership

Overcrowded emergency departments have become the norm. Christopher Luxon and National have failed to treat it as the emergency it is. Long ED waits must be treated as a serious risk to patients, not simply a performance target.

At the first meeting between Labour's Minister of Health and the Director-General of Health, the Minister will set clear directions to begin addressing overcrowding immediately:

• Patient safety: order a rapid, independent report on deaths, quality and safety linked to long ED waits.
• Faster patient flow: require hospitals to use better real-time information and clear responsibility for decisions about moving patients safely from ED into wards.
• Available beds: carry out a nationwide stocktake of closed and unopened beds, the staff needed to open them, and other barriers to admitting patients.
• Winter readiness: restart winter planning immediately, rather than waiting for demand to surge.
• Clear accountability: strengthen reporting to the Minister and the public, including the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine's hospital access targets, and focus on patient safety and quality as well as ED wait times.

Making sure EDs are there when Kiwis need them

More nurses and staffed hospital beds

It makes no sense to train nurses in New Zealand and then leave them struggling to find work when hospitals need more staff.

Labour's Graduate Nurse Job Guarantee will guarantee every eligible New Zealand-trained graduate nurse a job in our health system. Around 2,400 graduates a year will be offered work, with roles on graduation from 2027.

Jobs will be available in hospitals, primary care and community health services. We will double funding for graduate nursing roles in primary and community care, because when people can get care early they are less likely to end up in hospital.

Labour will also end National's hiring freeze immediately, so hospitals can recruit the staff they need, take pressure off existing nurses and care for patients sooner.

Open more hospital beds and move patients into wards faster

One of the biggest causes of overcrowding is patients waiting in ED after doctors have decided they need to be admitted to a ward. When a ward has no available staffed bed, those patients remain in ED, meaning there's less room for people who need emergency treatment.

Labour will identify unopened hospital beds and the staffing required to bring them into use. At Waitākere Hospital, for example, only 11 beds were opened in a new 30-bed facility. A nationwide stocktake will establish how widespread this problem is.

We will also tackle bottlenecks that delay admission or discharge, including ward staff shortages, limited weekend services and delays arranging support for patients who are well enough to leave. Better use of staffed beds means less time waiting in ED and faster care for people who need it.

Getting people the right care in the right place

Not everyone who needs urgent attention needs to go to hospital. With the right training and specialist support, more patients can be assessed and treated safely in their communities.

Train more extended-care paramedics

Extended-care paramedics have additional training to assess and treat people at home or at the scene, including providing medicines and treatment that can avoid an unnecessary trip to ED. There are currently only 152 nationwide. Labour will subsidise their training and improve training pathways so more paramedics can qualify.

Give health professionals access to specialist advice

Labour will establish a clinical telehealth service so paramedics, rural GPs, aged-care staff and other health professionals can consult an urgent-care or ED doctor. This will help them decide whether a patient can be treated safely where they are or needs hospital care.

The service will also support care when someone's usual GP or nurse is unavailable, including after hours, when calling an ambulance can otherwise become the default even for non-urgent problems.

Help people continue their regular medicines

Pharmacists can already provide an emergency supply of a patient's existing prescription medicine, but it is generally limited to 72 hours. That can be too short when someone cannot get a GP appointment, is travelling or needs medicine over a long holiday weekend.

Labour will review the rules to allow an emergency continuation of treatment beyond the current 72-hour limit. There will still be a maximum supply period and clear safeguards, including checking that the medicine is part of the patient's existing treatment. In government, we will also examine the cost patients face for emergency supplies.

Help older people recover at home and free up beds

Older people should be able to leave hospital as soon as they are ready, with the care and support they need to recover safely. Without that support, people can remain in hospital longer than necessary while other patients wait in ED for a bed.

Labour will fund early supported discharge teams in every region. These teams will provide short-term nursing, rehabilitation and practical support at home. They will help older people leave hospital sooner and can prevent some hospital admissions altogether.

Better care before, during and after an emergency

When someone is sick, they should be able to see a family doctor without worrying about the cost or waiting weeks for an appointment.

When they need emergency care, there should be enough nurses, doctors and hospital beds to treat them quickly.

And when they are well enough to leave hospital, they should have the support to recover safely at home.

See Labour's full plan for affordable healthcare.