100 children admitted to Wellington Hospital with respiratory illnesses this month

Wellington's hospitals are seeing a high number of children with respiratory illnesses this month. Photo / 123rf

Around 100 children have been admitted to Wellington Regional Hospital with respiratory illnesses in the past four weeks, health authorities say.

Health boards are aiming to increase capacity at Wellington's three hospitals in the coming years, with all still operating at a high occupancy.

On Tuesday Wellington's hospitals reported a higher volume of patients through emergency departments, and a very high number of children presenting with respiratory illnesses.

Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast DHB director of Provider Services Joy Farley said the volume was slightly lower today, but patients were still remaining in the emergency departments for longer than usual.

"Close to 100 children have been admitted to Wellington Regional Hospital with respiratory illnesses over the past four weeks, and around the same number has been seen in ED and discharged over the same period," Farley said.

"While these numbers are higher than in 2020, they are largely consistent with the numbers seen in previous years."

Haitaitai Medical Practice manager Janice Wong said they had also seen a spike of children presenting with respiratory illnesses yesterday.

"We did have a lot more children coming through the door yesterday," she said.

"There was a bit of a spike yesterday, and it was mainly kids - throats, ears, coughs and that kind of stuff."

But she said it was uncertain whether the spike in winter-illnesses was any higher than previous years.

A higher number of children have been admitted to Wellington Hospital with respiratory illnesses than in 2020. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Meanwhile, the Hutt Valley Emergency department had seen 116 children with "respiratory and winter-type illnesses" so far this month, with 24 admitted to hospital.

The DHBs were looking into increasing capacity at Wellington Regional, Kenepuru Community, and Hutt Hospital due to the continued high levels of occupancy, requiring investment in the coming year.

"These investments will be in line with master site planning and will be undertaken as soon as possible," Farley said.

"As we head into winter – especially as we are at alert level 1 – we strongly encourage people to maintain good hand hygiene, stay home from work or school if they have cold or flu symptoms, and to contact Healthline on 0800 358 5453 or their GP for advice."