Te Whatu Ora has admitted some of its data on the emergency department wait times is wrong, and has since taken the entire page of health performance metrics offline.
But that concession comes as GP practices struggle under pressure.
Nurses are jumping ship to bandage the higher paid gaps in hospitals, further overwhelming the health system.
Doctors say this is particularly prevalent in Northland where the incorrect data showed in November and December, more than 99 percent of people who attended their Emergency Departments were seen within the target time of six hours.
That's because the numbers of people attending were recorded as being down to 350 rather than around 5,000.
The chair of GenPro and rural GP Dr Tim Malloy spoke to Charlotte Cook.
