Under National, hospitals are booking ghost appointments to make it look like their targets are being met.

“Correspondence between clinicians and managers shows fake appointments are being made for fake clinics at Nelson Hospital,” Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said.

“This is a worrying sign that yet again National’s targets are leading to perverse incentives. This happened last time, when the system was gamed to make it look like people were having shorter stays in emergency departments.

“This time, managers are putting five-minute appointments in the system, when in reality patients are not being seen.

“The goal should always be patient outcomes, not making the books look good so the Minister can boast about meeting arbitrary targets. We said this would happen, now it is.

“The Minister needs a better answer than blaming others – this is a result of his decisions,” Ayesha Verrall said.

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