Source: Radio New Zealand
Christchurch Hospital resourced bed occupancy reached 99 percent at one point on Wednesday. RNZ / Nate McKinnon
The Nurses’ Organisation says Christchurch Hospital is reaching capacity, with some elective surgeries cancelled on Wednesday.
Allister Dietschin, a healthcare assistant and Nurses’ Organisation delegate, said the hospital was “heaving” and it had been “madness” for some days.
Earlier on Wednesday resourced bed occupancy in the hospital reached 99 percent. Dietschin said some elective surgeries had been cancelled as a result of the high demand.
He said as well as a high volume of patients, they were also short staffed.
Christchurch Hospital “often” had high volumes of patients and not enough staff. It was a problem the union had been asking for that to be addressed, Dietschin said.
He said the complexity of the patients they were dealing with was also through the roof.
“It’s diabolical really.”
Dietschin said traditionally they had less demand over summer, but that had not been the case this year. He was worried what that would mean for the colder months ahead.
“We’ve had huge demand over the summer period, and now with winter coming on, it’s just going to get even busier.”
Health New Zealand says 10 planned elective surgeries were deferred over the past two days at Christchurch Hospital due to a high number of acute trauma patients who required immediate care.
“As I am sure you will be able to appreciate, patients who require life saving care will always be prioritised,” a spokesperson said.
“We are not anticipating any further deferrals for elective surgery, and patients will be re-booked as soon as possible. To be clear this is unrelated to staffing or hospital capacity.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
