Health specialists are playing catch up when it comes to waiting lists.
More than 200,000 New Zealanders were sitting on a health-related wait list at the end of July; more than the entire population size of Hamilton.
They include people waiting for surgery, a first specialist assessment and other treatment.
Health Minister Andrew Little told Mike Hosking Health New Zealand is now working through the lists.
He says they've been able to see around 50 percent of the people who have been waiting over 12 months.
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