I spent the best part of yesterday afternoon in the emergency department of the Waitakere hospital.

I was there with my friend, Louise, because honestly, if it doesn’t rain it pours.

Her dad had spent a couple of nights in hospital, and she took her mother there to visit her dad, but when they left her mum tripped on a step and took a nasty blow to the head. So Louise was back in the emergency department with her mum, while dad was around the corner on a ward.

And, of course, it’s school holidays so collectively our kids were all dispatched off with the husbands, and Louise and I stayed at the hospital.

And really, it’s not until you spend a bit of time sitting in an emergency department, I think, that you see our health system at work – and boy, do they work. The staff were confronted with everything. 

Elderly people who’d had falls, some had heart issues or significant internal discomfort. There were young men who'd been knocked about working on construction sites. There were the usual suspects – inflamed appendix or suspected gallstones. People with respiratory issues. Fraught, anxious parents with newborn babies, desperate for some guidance and reassurance. You name it. They were there. 

And the staff were amazing. Truly. It takes a special person to work in the health sector, I think. I was in awe of how gracious and considerate and professional and compassionate everyone was. The nurses are extraordinary, reassuring people who're starving because they're on nil by mouth. Tending wounds. Supporting and holding young men in a lot of pain. Gently taking the blood pressure of someone very frail and elderly. 

And then you’ve got the doctors who are on their feet and on the go, constantly. They’re dealing with everything. It’s such an enormous responsibility. You can’t have an "Off day". You can’t. Because someone’s health and potentially their life is depending on your judgement. 

Then, when I was driving home, I heard the news that 3200 resident doctors and registered medical practitioners are to strike for 48 hours. 

They say they're fatigued and often work up to 12 days in a row. They want to reduce that to a maximum of 10. They also want to reduce the number of consecutive night shifts they work from seven - to four. They're concerned, and this is a very valid point I think, that they'll make life-threatening mistakes because they're fatigued.

What they're asking for, I think, is an entirely reasonable request.

Can you really ask these men and women to look after the nation’s health when their own health is suffering? 

Yes, it will require more funding to implement this change and the district health boards are balking at it. They don't have that cash. And there are already so many demands on our health system now. It's stretched to the limit and beyond.

But if you don’t have your health, then what do you have? You have nothing.

It is not an unreasonable request to look after the health of those who are charged with looking after the nation's health.

It's disappointing and concerning that we're now facing a 48 hour strike - but in this case, I'm on the side of the doctors.

No-one should have to work 12 days on the trot.