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<\/p>\nElective surgeries are being postponed as the health system responds to the highest levels of demand seen in recent years.<\/p>\n
Health New Zealand says acute care has to be prioritised.<\/p>\n
Its national chief medical officer Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard said patient numbers are above historic winter levels.<\/p>\n
She said the pressure is expected to continue for at least another three to four weeks \u2013 but numbers have reduced from the “exceptionally high levels” seen in August.<\/p>\n
It follows Pharmac’s decision to fund the flu vaccine for children aged 6 months up until their fifth birthday from next year. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the Government put an extra $25 million towards extra beds and staff recruitment to prepare for winter.<\/p>\n
Health NZ said at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland, it was redeploying staff and offering overtime shifts to address the high number of patients at its emergency department.<\/p>\n
Has your surgery been postponed? Email us at news@tvnz.co.nz<\/p>\n
Where procedures are deferred, Stokes-Lampard said patients can be assured it will only happen when safe to do so.<\/p>\n
“The decision to defer care is not taken lightly and all decisions are made on a case-by-case basis by clinical teams with patient safety and wellbeing as the highest priority.<\/p>\n
“Surgeries are always rescheduled for the next available opportunity, and we consider the acuity of a patient’s condition to ensure those with the highest need are treated first.”<\/p>\n
Speaking to Morning Report, Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton said members were “really feeling” the pressure.<\/p>\n
Winter sickness keeps parts of the country in a chokehold, affecting schools, workplaces and aged care facilities. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
About 200 members attended a conference last week and Dalton said nobody in the room worked in a service not under pressure \u2013 with a lot of them saying they’d never known it to be this bad.<\/p>\n
“The idea that you can pump a few million bucks and a handful of workers into our hospitals a few weeks before winter and that will help is just magical thinking.”<\/p>\n
Dalton acknowledged the medical professionals working hard in hospitals across the country to try keep people safe in conditions that aren’t “particularly safe”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sarah Dalton has called for safer waiting spaces for people trying to access care. (Source: rnz.co.nz)<\/p>\n
She also said she was “very aware” of how delays to elective care can cause real trauma and difficulty to patients and their families.<\/p>\n
Dalton said some were having to stop eating before surgeries only for the procedures to be cancelled at the last minute.<\/p>\n
Others had to organise leave and childcare while planning to be away from home.<\/p>\n
The unpredictability can cause anxiety, cost and disruption – which is “really regrettable”, she said.<\/p>\n