As my youngest brother famously told my mum when he finished last in the Whangārei Primary School swimming sports, "Mum, I came first at the wrong end." Whangārei Hospital, the struggles of its excellent staff working in an Emergency Department half the size it needs to be, in theatres where windows have been known to fall out during surgery, is what years of under-investment in health services looks like, and, likewise, it's just become a case study in how this Labour Government is securing the recovery of Whangārei and places like it across the country.