28 (2026). Ingrid Leary to the Minister of Health

28 (2026). Ingrid Leary to the Minister of Health: How many times, if any, did Nelson Hospital Emergency Department go into code red in 2025?

Hon Simeon Brown: As the Member may be aware, hospitals across the country were operating with inconsistent escalation rating systems following the previous Government's decision to restructure the healthcare system in the middle of a pandemic in 2022. Our Government has addressed this by developing a common national escalation framework in 2024 through Health New Zealand. This framework – used by healthcare systems worldwide – is an important part of our focus on building a healthcare system that has patients at its centre. The framework allows hospitals to respond dynamically to operational demands at any point in time, based on locally defined triggers such as emergency department flow, critical care occupancy, and isolation requirements. When a hospital enters an escalation level like code red, it signals that additional resources should be deployed to that area – not that the hospital remained in code red for an entire day. The system is designed to quickly identify pressure points and apply appropriate resources to resolve them. This is a responsive, proactive approach to managing hospital capacity that puts patients first. I am advised that the specific information, as requested by the Member, is not held centrally by Health New Zealand. I am further advised that providing the requested information would require Health New Zealand to undertake a substantial manual collation exercise and divert staff from their core duties. In accordance with Speaker’s Rulings, I consider that the time, and hence the expense, of answering the Member’s question is not in the public interest. However, I refer the Member to the attached table for code red counts by hospital.