By Mel Taylor

Due to health complications, my husband arrived at hospital on Sunday night via ambulance.

The first doctor we saw was awesome. She was obvious in her concerns and care for my husband, communicated well and also listened to us intently. During my husband’s stay, we were thankful to have one other doctor who displayed similar attributes.

The second doctor was where we started to see firsthand, the impacts of the health crisis in NZ. The doctor was struggling to talk and mixing up his words and explanations. He would start a conversation then stop mid-sentence, only to explain that he had completely forgotten his train of thought. He informed us that it was his third day on duty, that he was very overtired and as a result he wasn’t thinking clearly.

Unfortunately, we witnessed very little empathy at all, only a rush to get through everything.

To put it mildly, he was angry, rude and very disconnected. He was called away for an incoming emergency, and after what we had seen, we were concerned for outcomes of having such an exhausted doctor in such a demanding life or death situation.

We are no strangers to hospital stays and doctors. We understand the intense pressure that doctors, surgeons and nurses are facing due to staff shortages and are thankful that the majority of the time we have been treated with professionalism and empathy.

That has not been the case this time.

My husband has a MASSIVE sense of humor with a large side of cheeky thrown in. That’s just who he is. It is never that he does not take his health very seriously, he just makes light of the situation every now and then.

This was not at all appreciated by the medical team who saw my husband. They were deeply offended by a little joke my husband made, and angrily scolded him. We were told that health is absolutely no joking matter, and not to joke around again. When I attempt to clarify things, I was completely shut down. We were treated like naughty children by overtired and grumpy adults.

The hospitals are in a sad state of affairs when you get multiple doctors complaining about being overtired and overworked to their patients, and when they openly share the number of patients they have to care.

It is of grave concern when overtired doctors are struggling to hold full conversations, and confusing information they have been given about a patient.

We are now seeing doctors lose their empathy and compassion for patients, due to the pressures they are facing and the lack of time they have to give each patient.

The situation for nurses is by no means any better.

According to the NZ Nurses Association, there is a shortage of 4000 nurses. We have been informed from nurses on the frontline that there has been a freeze put in place for the hiring of more nurses, contrary to what the government are saying. Also, there are currently no jobs out there for nurses seeking employment, and now many young nurses are looking to relocate to Australia where there is significantly more pay and opportunities for them.

Nurses are angry at the government and their lack of action to addressing the health crisis and medical staff shortage. As frontline workers, they are witnessing and experiencing first-hand, the continual decline of our health sector, with patients bearing the brunt of it.

Burnt-out doctors do not equate to caring and compassionate doctors with enough time to give one hundred percent to their patients.

Being released from hospital with no substantial answers, solutions or clarity due to conflicting information from different doctors is unacceptable.

Being released from hospital with no substantial action plan, is unacceptable.

It is time for Government to get serious about the health crisis now, before we have any more unavoidable deaths.