Auckland Hospital E.D staff condemn "unsafe work environment"

More than 150 frontline staff at Auckland Hospital's emergency department have signed a complaint to management saying chronic staff shortages are exposing them to unacceptable risk. The complaint has been signed by doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants and lodged under the Health and Safety at Work Act, warning hospital bosses that "safe staffing levels" are being "consistently breached". They say the ratio of nurses to patients should be no more than one to four but this is consistently breached, putting both staff and patients at risk. Nico Woodward is a nurse in Auckland Hospital's emergency department, a NZ nurses organisation delegate, and one of the signatories to the complaint. He speaks to the pressures inside E.D alongside Anne Daniels, president of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation and also an emergency department nurse.