Staff shortages leave cardiac labs idle as heart attack patients wait weeks

Heart attack patients in Wellington and Christchurch are waiting weeks for procedures that should happen within 48 hours, cardiologist Dr Andrew Chatfield says, calling the situation a "shambles." Cardiac catheterisation labs — where blocked arteries are diagnosed and treated — sit idle because of shortages of physiologists, radiation technologists and sonographers. Health New Zealand says additional beds are expected over coming years.