An emergency medicine specialist in Auckland says doctors are worried about what will happen during winter after Auckland Hospital's emergency department had to turn away ambulances on Monday night.
Dr Kate Allan, who represents the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine, says patients who would ordinarily have gone to the closest hospital had to be sent elsewhere, meaning they waited longer for emergency treatment, and were then further away from family and friends.
At one point, about a dozen ambulances were lined up at the hospital.
Dr Allan says the problem is only getting worse.
She spoke to Guyon Espiner.
