Surgeries on hold

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Patients scheduled for elective surgeries might have to wait until February as staffing shortages and sickness lead to postponed operations.

Te Whatu Ora - Health NZ Tairāwhiti interim director Jim Green said not all elective surgery had been put on hold.

“We are, however, facing significant demand on our acute services and have been experiencing difficulty in providing cover.

“In addition to vacancies and Covid, we are still seeing high rates of other sickness among staff and their families.

“We continue to focus on people with more urgent care needs, including those with cancer and those needing pain relief.”

Mr Green said the focus on acute care and the scaling back of elective surgery began over a month ago.

“Unfortunately, demand on acute services and sickness levels among staff have not changed in that time.

“We are expecting to recommence more elective surgery from February and will have a plan in place to catch up.

“This is our local response but there are similar issues across the country.

“Nationally we are working on the Planned Care Reset and Restore plan, which the minister (Minister of Health Andrew Little) announced out of the Planned Care Taskforce,” Mr Green said.

The move, just before Christmas, comes as Health NZ retains a vaccine policy for staff.

The Government mandate for health workers to be vaccinated was lifted more than two months ago but unvaxxed Gisborne nurses can still not return to work because Heath NZ - Te Whatu Ora is maintaining the policy until such time as a national Te Whatu Ora vaccination policy comes into effect.

“This new policy is still in development,” a Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ spokesperson said.

The Government's mandated vaccination requirements for workers ended on September 26.

Acting Minister for Covid-19 Response Chris Hipkins this week announced vaccinate mandates for workers would also be removed from the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act, which was introduced in 2020 to provide an extraordinary set of legislative powers that have enabled the Government's response to Covid-19.

The Act provides the primary legal framework for implementing the mandatory public health measures used to manage the Covid public health crisis, and is time-limited, self-repealing in May 2023 unless done sooner.