Warnings hospitals will remain as overwhelmed as ever ... after the Omicron peak

Australia's College of Emergency Medicine says overcrowded emergency departments have been a problem since well before the pandemic.

The New Zealand Medical Association's deputy chair is calling for a comprehensive support plan for after this outbreak.

Vanessa Weenink says hospitals have had to keep people away to manage the overload of infectious disease.

She says they've had to shut down elective surgery - adding to a backlog of services including cancer care.