Overcrowding at Kidz First neonatal intensive care unit is putting pressure on families, babies, and medical staff. Senior investigative reporter Michael Morrah visited the ward to see the problem firsthand.
A senior medical doctor who cares for newborn infants says the North Island’s biggest neonatal unit in South Auckland is “chronically full” with some babies unable to leave the ward because they don’t have warm, dry homes to go to.
Consultant neonatologist Dr Lindsay Mildenhall, who works at Kidz First Children’s Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, told the Herald babies sometimes wait for “days or weeks” while safe accommodation is arranged.
Mildenhall said most parents do an amazing job for their newborns, but many struggle with everyday expenses and end up living in unsuitable accommodation like garages.
“If say babies were born extremely prematurely with immature lungs, going home to very cold, moist, damp accommodation is just going to be a nightmare. They’re going to be back in our hospital – our Kids First facility – before you know it,” he said.
While the number of babies without proper accommodation was small, it represented a “significant” and “heartbreaking” issue, which put additional pressure on already overburdened services, he said.
“We need to keep them here [at the neonatal unit] until decent accommodation is available, meaning that bed is tied up until that’s found. Social services intervene in some cases to try and provide those families with accommodation,” he said.
Because the Kidz First neonatal ward is at capacity, babies are often “juggled” between cots at different hospitals in the Auckland area, and on rare occasions, if babies are expected to be born prematurely, parents are asked to travel to Hamilton, Wellington or Christchurch to give birth.
“We’re chock-a-block. There are no bed spaces free [at the moment] for taking new admissions,” Mildenhall told the Herald.
He said having to dispatch parents who live in Auckland to other cities was an “emotional nightmare” and treated as a “major incident” when it happens.
There are 48 cots in total at the neonatal intensive care and special care wards at Kidz First but Mildenhall says staff needed at least 60 cots.
He said while the situation put pressure on parents, it was also incredibly stressful for staff.
“We run out of equipment; we’re forever asking staff to do extra shifts,” he said.
The key factors driving the overload include more women having babies later in life, which can increase risks, an increased number of immigrants of childbearing age, better technology meaning babies of earlier gestation can be kept alive, and a diabetes “epidemic” in South Auckland.
Maternal diabetes poses significant risks to babies during pregnancy and delivery, and can cause babies to be born with unstable glucose levels.
“It’s huge for us. It’s described as an epidemic, and I think that’s a true thing to say of diabetes in South Auckland, especially in the Pacific Island and to a lesser extent the Māori population,” he said.
Mildenhall, who was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2022 for services to neonatal intensive care and resuscitation training, has worked in the specialty for 30 years and been at Kidz First hospital since it opened 25 years ago.
He says authorities are “sympathetic” to the pressures on the neonatal unit, but he’d like to see advanced planning around expanding cot space in line with known population growth predictions.
“Cot numbers are adjusted accordingly, although we tend to do it after the populations have increased. We do that by reacting to that rather than doing it prophylactically,” he said.
He says staff work tirelessly to ensure the most fragile babies get the best possible start to life – often selfless toil that he says is supported by the Middlemore Foundation.
The foundation – a charity that assists Kidz First – “contributes hugely” by paying for ventilators, heaters and intravenous lines, and has a network of 2000 volunteer knitters who craft clothing for premature babies, he said.
In 2002, Mildenhall featured in a television series called Kids Hospital where he was filmed looking after Auckland premature baby, Wendy Lee.
The Herald caught up with her and her mother, Sarah Lee, at Kidz First where Sarah recounted the dread and uncertainty while her daughter – born at 28 weeks – was cared for by intensive care staff.
“We were absolutely convinced that Wendy was going to die. Her whole body was the size of my hand,” Sarah told the Herald.
She said if it wasn’t for medical staff “Wendy wouldn’t be alive” and she was grateful for the diligence and care shown by Mildenhall.
Wendy’s journal from her time on the neonatal intensive care unit - which includes her tiny footprint in red ink - says she weighed 1045g at birth with her parents having to wait a week before they were allowed to hold her.
“She was in an incubator all hooked up, cables and wires and stuff coming out of her, her skin looked transparent, you could almost see inside her,” Sarah said.
As well as being born 12 weeks early, Wendy faced another setback after contracting a superbug and had to be isolated from other babies.
Even back then Sarah recalled the unit being “very, very overstretched”.
Wendy, 25, who now lives in Hamilton working for Inland Revenue, said she often thought about how hard that period would have been for her parents, and felt guilty about causing such a fuss.
While touring the neonatal unit on Saturday, Wendy and her mum had the chance to talk to other parents and reassure them.
“When I think about my case, I’m just one of them. There are so many babies in there fighting for their life, and the [medical] team is just exceptional,” Wendy said.
Click here to donate to the Kidz First Children’s Hospital 25th Birthday Appeal. Donors support the creation of clothing for premature babies, the renovation of the whānau rooms, incubator cots, and a neonatal transporter.
Michael Morrah is a senior investigative reporter/team leader at the Herald. He won News Journalist of the Year at the 2025 Voyager Media Awards and has twice been named reporter of the year at the NZ Television Awards. He has been a broadcast journalist for 20 years and joined the Herald’s video team in July 2024.