Hopes Health New Zealand will boost staffing at Christchurch Hospital's Trauma Admitting Service, on the back of a study in today's New Zealand Medical Journal

The study set out to assess the service's effectiveness and optimise trauma care nationwide - ultimately improving outcomes and reducing deaths.

But study co-author, surgeon Chris Wakeman says it instead highlighted a lack of staffing and resourcing from senior surgeons to administrative staff.

He says on some days, the unit's so understaffed it can't even operate.

Wakeman says the nurses do a great job, but they're seeing more patients than anywhere else in the country.

He says there should be two to three times as many nurses in the unit.