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Patients presenting at Wellington Hospital's emergency department have faced wait times of more than 24 hours to be seen this month.
An ED nurse said, on a recent Monday night shift, one man fell asleep and hit his head, while waiting 12 hours to be seen.
Health Minister Simeon Brown said the current situation in Wellington ED was unacceptable, as it continued to be one of lowest-performing in the country, while Health NZ said the hospital was under extreme winter pressure, and very long waits occurred for complex circumstances and weren't the experience of most patients.
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) delegate said she feared speaking out would result in repercussions - RNZ agreed not to name her for this reason.
She said, on the overnight shift on Monday 17 August, the hospital escalated to Code Red several times.
Health NZ said code red in ED referred to the amount of pressure the department was under. It's based on waitingroom congestion, staffing skill mix, changes in care hours and the seriousness of the patient cases.
One man had come to the emergency department in the evening, she said, and wasn't admitted until about 6am.
"The only reason he was brought through then was because of him falling asleep and face-planting, and they were checking him for any injuries."
The nurse said ED wait-times recently were extremely long - at times reaching 24 hours - although the peak was 18 hours more recently.
In internal Health NZ documents RNZ has seen, the agency said in early August that some patients exceeded 24-hour waits in ED, with high numbers of patients waiting more than six hours, due to medical bed shortages.
Hospitals throughout the country have a target that 95 percent of patients are admitted, discharged or transferred from an emergency department within six hours.
Latest results from Health NZ, between January and March 2026, show Capital & Coast hospitals only met that target 57.6 percent of the time.
An ED summary shift report from a staff member from Monday, 17 August said the department that night was operating under "extreme pressure", experiencing "significant and sustained over-crowding".
A mental health patient locked themselves in the bathroom and self-harmed, the nurse said, while a member of the public walked in and threatened to "kill staff", assaulting a security orderly.
Police confirmed to RNZ they attended the hospital at 11.30pm to a report of disorderly behaviour - a person was arrested for breach of conditions, a spokesperson said.
Health NZ said it wouldn't comment or confirm details about the specific patient incidents, without a privacy waiver.
'Lots of pressure'
The nurse said the hospital was full and bed-blocked that night, with at least 11 patients needing to be treated in corridors, although this was normal.
"It's just a sh**show to work in at the moment. Lots of pressure.
"We're getting high presentations, but the pressure's coming from where we can't get patients off to wards to free up our ED space, so that we can continue to see the new ones coming in."
She said there could be up to 24 patients in corridors on other days.
"It's awful, you know, and every day you're seeing your corridors full and we're all walking past these corridors.
"There's no privacy for any of these patients."
Twenty-seven nurse vacancies at Wellington ED
A Health NZ spokesperson said there were 27.1 full-time nurse vacancies at in the ED.
In the coming months, 18 new nurses would come on board, leaving 8.8 full-time nurse vacancies, which were being recruited.
Michelle Sutherland, interim group director of operations for the region, said the hospital had 212 ED patients on 17 August, following several days of high demand.
Winter was an extremely busy time for health services, so more patients were expected.
She said 66 percent percent of patients on 17 August were discharged from the ED within six hours.
"We acknowledge that a number of patients experienced very long waits. The longest waits tend to reflect particularly complex circumstances, rather than the experience of most people in the department."
Wellington ED wait-times 'not acceptable' - minister
Brown said the current situation at Wellington Regional Hospital's emergency department was not acceptable.
"It continues to be one of the lowest-performing in the country, and that is not good enough for patients or for staff.
"Our doctors, nurses and healthcare workers work incredibly hard every day, but they are operating in a facility that does not support safe patient flow or timely treatment."
Brown said the government had prioritised a redevelopment of ED in the Health Infrastructure Plan and work was underway across the hospital campus.
His office said additional beds had been provided, among other planning measures made for the winter season.
Space in the hospital has been a long-standing issue, with the redevelopment likely to be complete by 2029.
He said wait times at Wellington Hospital had come down under the current government, compared to the previous Labour government, and the ED now met the wait-time target 57.6 percent of the time, increasing from 43.8 percent in 2023.
Code Red instances had also fallen, he said, with his office providing a table that showed 729 Code Reds in 2023, compared to 567 in 2025.
"However, there is still a long way to go before Wellingtonians can access emergency care as quickly as they deserve."
He said staff continued to put patients first under very challenging conditions.
