Dr Freeman said GPs were specialists in providing healthcare in the community, whereas emergency department doctors provided specialist emergency care, not GP-level care.
"Patients coming to the emergency department will be initially assessed and then treated, according to the severity of their condition. This means that people who should be seeing their GP or family doctor, rather than going to the hospital, may have to wait quite a while to be treated, as the staff will always be treating emergency cases first."
Rotorua Lakes Primecare was open every day during the holiday period, with business manager Christine Kampfraathsaying it was always its busiest time of year.
"It is always busy but without crunching the actual figures I would say it didn't seem significantly busier than previous years.
"A lot of the people who came to us were overseas visitors and people on holiday."
She said people presented with a mix of illness and injury.
"It's a little bit calmer now, a lot of people headed back to work on January 8 so there were less patients this week than last."
If you're not sure whether you need to see a doctor, you can ring your GP practice for advice, or contact Healthline on 0800 611 116 for free health advice 24 hours a day.
Holiday period Rotorua Hospital ED presentations:
2015/16: 1555
2016/17: 1659
2017/18: 1550