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Overcrowding in hospital emergency departments is not being caused by people increasingly showing up with minor conditions, despite what some people may think.
Senior doctors writing in Friday's issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal say patients presenting at EDs generally do require urgent care, but hospitals need to be adequately resourced to safely manage the workload.
It comes amid growing concern about long waits in hospital emergency departments.
New Zealand chair of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine Dr Kate Allan spoke to Corin Dann.