Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Christchurch Hospital is working on ways to manage an expected influx of patients sick with winter illnesses like Covid-19 and the flu, as the nurses’ union warns the emergency department is already bursting at the seams and understaffed.
The Nurses Organisation said the hospital hit 108 percent capacity on Monday morning, with ED a pinch point.
Union delegate and Christchurch Hospital healthcare assistant Al Dietschin said the ED was seeing more than 400 patients per day, some of whom had to wait in corridors.
“It’s been chronic for some time the busyness. We haven’t seen numbers drop over summer it’s been kind of relentless. That just puts so much pressure on the workforce and obviously affects patient care,” he said.
“It’s horrendous but unfortunately it seems to be the new normal.
“On the ground what it looks like in ED is an overwhelmed department where patients are waiting in corridors. We get a situation when the wards are all so full you can have a bed lock occur.”
Otago University Professor Michael Baker said New Zealand was in its ninth Covid-19 wave, with hospitalisations and deaths climbing.
Otago University Professor Michael Baker. supplied / Otago University Wellington
Wastewater analysis from PHF Science showed the number of cases was at its highest rate for more than six months and the latest Health New Zealand figures showed there had been 50 hospitalisations and 19 deaths with the virus in the past week.
Covid-19 was filling up hospitals, and everyone needed to “act to reduce impact”, Baker said.
Dietschin there were too few staff at Christchurch Hospital for the number of patients and the situation would only get worse over winter.
“It’s quite scary because staff get sick as well and that just increases the short staffing. It just causes sort of a rationing of care which then contributes to the moral injury and burnout of staff,” he said.
He said staff were being regularly redeployed from one area of the hospital to another to meet the shortage.
“It’s kind of a bit like moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic,” he said.
“We’re short of RNs [registered nurses], we’re short of healthcare assistants, we’re short of doctors, we’re short of midwives and Te Whatu Ora and this government don’t seem to be addressing it. We need a massive increase in funding in public healthcare.”
The union had been in bargaining with health authorities over safe staffing levels for 18 months, Dietschin said.
“The increase in presentations within the ED department, that’s partly a result of primary healthcare that’s failing, where people aren’t being caught early so they become more acutely unwell and present in ED,” he said.
Health New Zealand said Christchurch’s ED was busier than usual at the end of the weekend, but put that down to acute trauma demand rather than staffing shortages. RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Health New Zealand Canterbury operations group director Hamish Brown said Christchurch’s ED was busier than usual at the end of the weekend.
“Our team saw an average 423 patients over the weekend (394 on Saturday and 451 on Sunday), which is 22 patients more compared with the previous weekend and 35 more compared to the same time last March,” he said.
“This pressure was primarily related to acute trauma demand affecting the emergency department and wards rather than staffing shortages.
“We had, and continue to have, staff to cover to meet demand, and our teams actively managed the situation to minimise any impact on care. At very busy times there may be some waits for a bed space to become available, however patients are only discharged when they are well enough.”
Brown said anyone who needed urgent or emergency care should come to ED without delay or call 111.
“We encourage those with non-urgent concerns to consider other options for access to acute care, including the free Healthline (0800 611 116) to speak to a registered nurse, or local GPs, healthcare providers and community pharmacies,” he said.
Initiatives had been put in place or were being worked on at the hospital to help manage the anticipated high winter demand for illnesses like Covid-19, flu, and other respiratory conditions, Brown said.
Kidney patients in Christchurch were also being warned dialysis treatment may have to be rationed because of staffing shortages and a lack of space at the hospital.
In a letter to patients and seen by RNZ, the hospital’s kidney department said some patients might be asked to change treatment days, times or locations to manage the pressure.
Dr Curtis Walker from the Board of Kidney Health New Zealand told Morning Report it was a difficult situation.
“It’s incredibly disruptive for patients. I’ve got patients on dialysis who are trying to run a business, who are trying to get kids to school, trying to look after elderly parents and the last thing they need is even more uncertainty in what’s already a pretty challenging treatment,” he said.
“Most patients need three dialysis sessions a week and if they don’t they start to feel unwell or even worse they can get fluid build up or potassium build up and that can have fatal consequences.”
Dr Curtis Walker from the Board of Kidney Health New Zealand. RNZ / Karen Brown
Walker says dialysis demand was placing stress across the country and was projected to get worse.
“There are 12 main dialysis units in New Zealand and all of them are under stress and strain,” he said.
“All of them say they can’t dialyse all their patients according to the patient’s preference, all of them report a lack of physical capacity and funding and over half have said we’ve had to reduce hours or delay dialysis when patients start dialysis.”
Brown said Health New Zealand was considering options for addressing the problems at the Christchurch unit.
“In 2024, an existing inpatient room was repurposed to add four further dialysis chairs. Longer term options include building a new unit, or re-purposing an existing larger space as well as exploring chairs in more remote sites such as Ashburton, so dialysis care can be provided closer to home for those patients,” he said.
“Advertising for a senior medical officer and approximately six FTE nurses is already underway to meet the immediate need for extra sessions for dialysis in Canterbury.”
Heath New Zealand acknowledged kidney disease was a growing challenge nationally and said it was working to strengthen renal care, increase capacity and improve early detection.
Over the past year it had increased dialysis shifts in several high-demand regions and invested in new and upgraded dialysis units, including the new $40 million Waikato Renal Centre.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
