DHB 'stalling' as need for ops soars

ABOVE: Tauranga patients in chronic pain are facing delays before they are put on surgery waiting lists. BELOW: Tony Farrell (left), Labour health spokesperson Annette King, and Grey Power Tauranga president Christina Humphreys.PHOTOS/FILE

Hundreds of Tauranga's elderly are in chronic pain, unable to get on to hospital waiting lists for a replacement hip or knee operation because they cannot be seen by a specialist.

Figures provided to the Labour Party by the Bay of Plenty District Health Board (DHB) showed there had been a four-fold increase in the number of people declined their first consultation with a hospital orthopaedic specialist.

Labour's health spokesperson Annette King said patients going through the public system were being declined consultations, based on an assessment by a specialist of their doctors' notes.

Patients desperate to get on to a waiting list were being rejected because they did not meet the threshold for assessment.

It meant that people, often in pain and with severe mobility problems, had to wait months before their doctor could try again, she said.

"One of the ways to manage waiting lists was not to put people on them," she said.

Mrs King was not blaming the DHB, which she said was under incredible financial pressure. "More people are living longer, so you would expect DHBs to be doing more operations, but they are rejecting them."

Information supplied to Labour covered 21 hospital services that involved specialist consultations. Nine showed an improved trend and 12 a worsening trend in the three years to the end of 2014. Orthopaedics towered above the rest, with the number of letters declining a first consultation shooting up from 285 in 2013 to 1415 in 2014.

Mount Maunganui GP Dr Tony Farrell said doctors were getting the clear signal that there was no more money, despite the growing demand from an aging population who had paid a lot of taxes over the years.

He said people whose X-rays showed bone on bone and were in terrible pain were not being seen in a timely manner. It was frustrating for the doctor who had to manage a condition that could be fixed by a new hip.

Patients were losing condition and losing sleep, with some barely being able to make it to the letter box. Chronic pain affected their moods and concentration, leading to falls and broken bones that "really shortened life spans", Dr Farrell said.

Tauranga elder care organisations said the orthopaedic figures were a reflection of the growing number of retired people coming to live in Tauranga, and who were forced to drop out of private health insurance schemes because of the escalating cost of premiums as they entered old age.

Grey Power Tauranga president Christina Humphreys said elderly in desperate need of new hips were being pushed aside. The trend was to shunt them back and forward between their GP and the specialist, knowing that they were in an age group taught to respect what they were being told.

"It looks like something is happening, but it's not - it is a stalling tactic," she said.

Age Concern Tauranga chairwoman Debra Jager said it was horrid that people had to wait for their operations, often in a lot of pain.

She said hospital services needed to keep up with the population growth.

"Look at the number of retirement villages and large influx of people coming here to retire. It is a factor in these statistics."

The DHB sought more time to respond to the request for the reasons why there had been such a surge in refusals, particularly relating to orthopaedics.