The problem of people turning up to emergency departments with non-emergencies may have been overstated.
Medical experts writing in today's New Zealand Medical Journal says the pressure hospital EDs are under isn't due to too many people turning up unnecessarily.
They say it's mostly due to an actual increase in urgent cases.
One of the experts—Te Whatu Ora Acute Care Clinical Lead Peter Jones— told Mike Hosking that we have low numbers of presentations per head of population, compared with other countries.
He says our issue is mainly getting the people that should be there to the right place, to the care they need.
LISTEN ABOVE

Mike's Minute: We are moving forward into real-world education
02:40

Doug Steel: BNZ Senior Economist on the services sector expanding in the BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index
04:45

Shaun White: Highly decorated snowboarder on bringing the Snow League to NZ, upcoming second season
10:54