Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The attention on the Waikato ED case could increase the odds of fixing the problem

If there's any good that comes from this awful case of the man dying while waiting for help in Waikato Hospital's emergency department, it's that at least it's getting a lot of media attention.

I don't know if you recall but basically the same thing happened in 2021 at Middlemore Hospital. It was strange to me how little attention it received at the time, especially given everything else that was going wrong. There were people waiting for ambulances and dying in their doorways.

Matua Kahurangi: Subscriber Stories - Emergency care or waiting room farce?

One subscriber's fight to be seen

This week, I received a comment from one of my subscribers, whom I will refer to as KC. She wanted to share what happened to her on Tuesday when she tried to access urgent medical care through our public health system. Her story deserves to be told because it paints a grim picture of what New Zealanders now face when they fall seriously ill.