Whangārei Hospital.
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon

The mayor of Whangārei says the city is in desperate need of a new hospital after its emergency department was at more than 150 percent capacity on Friday, forcing it to go into a ‘Code Black’.

A Health NZ spokesperson said at the time that it was not uncommon for the ED to go into Code Black, but it would continue to take patients who needed emergency care.

Staff told RNZ on Friday there had been more than 80 arrivals since midnight, including 21 within one hour.

“I have never seen this before,” one said.

The pressure on Whangārei Hospital was partly due to having to pick up the slack left by smaller Northland hospitals, which were also struggling with demand and staffing shortages.

A new hospital was slated to be built from 2026, expected to take eight years to complete. Mayor Vince Cocurullo said the pressure on the emergency department highlighted it was needed now.

“Whangārei and Northland have been in a situation where they’ve needed a new hospital for the last 20 years and it’s been put off and put off and put off.

“Now it’s at critical stage and it actually needs to be done now.”

Cocurullo said the population of Whangārei and Northland was growing and they needed the infrastructure to support that.

“So the new hospital needs to be made bigger and it needs to be started earlier.”

Cocurullo said in the next 30 years Northland’s population could double, and the hospital that was currently planned would not be able to support that.

Health Minister Shane Reti declined to comment on the Code Black situation when approaced by RNZ on Friday.