Hospital feels pressure - late-winter woes strain services

Late-winter woes are taking their toll on Whangarei Hospital, demand for beds almost outstripping supply as viral infections put a strain on health resources.
Whangarei Hospital's emergency department and medical wards have been under pressure amid a rush of people with viral illnesses in recent weeks, Northland Health communications manager Alison Lees said.
Ms Lees said the accident and emergency department was "trending" about one percent more admissions throughout this year than in 2003. In August, it received 1957 patients - up from 1850 that month last year.
"The pressure has dropped back this week, but there was a blip a couple of weeks ago," she said.
"In the Emergency Department we've had a heavy run in terms of people with viral illnesses, both adults and children. It's accounting for an increase in the number of people attending."
Chest infections and fevers were the most common symptoms for people going to the hospital with viral infections.
"Some are quite severe. It can be difficult to determine what the illness is. Combined with the trauma of the recent spate of accidents, the department and its staff have been under pressure, but they are coping with the workload," Ms Lees said.
A&E; staff had undergone a debriefing earlier this month to help them cope with severe trauma they had had to deal with, particularly in relation to a crash near Waipapa on September 12 that claimed four lives and left five people seriously injured.
Three children, aged, two, three and seven, were seriously injured in the crash, which killed their parents and one-year-old sister. All three were stabilised at Whangarei Hospital before being flown to Starship Hospital in Auckland.
The illnesses had also had an impact on medical wards, where 100 percent occupancy of beds was reported on Friday.
But the winter woes have not only put pressure on the hospital's beds. Hospital staff are also falling foul of the viruses. As well as pressure on bed numbers a lot of staff have been off work with the same viral infections, Ms Lees said.
She said the hospital had rescheduled some surgery earlier in the winter, but the rush of patients had not resulted in any routine rescheduling of elective surgery this time.
Other hospitals around the country have not been as lucky.
Operations for people booked for surgery at Rotorua Hospital have been postponed this week because of a shortage of beds and nurses because of illness.
Several dozen people were admitted to the hospital with flu-type symptoms at the weekend and the extra admissions have forced Lakes District Health Board to start cancelling elective surgery as it struggles to juggle its resources.
Dunedin Hospital has also been forced it to postpone elective operations.
The move was forced by a recent rise of influenza in the Dunedin area, resulting in greater numbers of admissions and staff sick days.