Covid-19 Omicron outbreak: Lakes District Health Board reducing elective surgeries by 25 per cent

Daily elective surgeries will be cut by a quarter from today at Rotorua and Taupō hospitals, with more than 1800 people on the waiting list.

Lakes District Health Board chief operating officer Alan Wilson said hospitals would be dropping one theatre per day, reducing planned surgeries by 25 per cent.

"[This would affect] about four patients per day," Wilson told the Rotorua Daily Post.

Wilson said all affected patients would be notified.

"We will review if we need to drop more [surgeries] the following week or when we can return to re-instating all the lists."

Wilson said that decision would depend on staffing and beds due to the continued spread of Covid-19.

As of February 16 - the most recent figure available - there were 1813 patients waiting for elective surgery in the Lakes health board area.

There are 1813 patients waiting for elective surgery in the Lakes District Health Board's area. Photo / Getty Images

An 84-year-old Rotorua resident suffering from carpal tunnel in both hands decided to get an operation to ease the condition done privately after being told she would need to wait 16 weeks for a public appointment.

"I never realised how you need your two hands to do most jobs," said the woman, who did not want to be named.

"Living with these things is hard and depressing and it's deprived me of time I can't get back.

"In October, I had a letter from the hospital to say that I had to wait 16 weeks before they could get back to me about an appointment.

"I decided to have the operation done privately."

The woman had previously waited eight months for a back surgery she finally received in June last year.

That surgery had previously been rescheduled because of Covid-19.

"I knew very well that even when I'd gotten an appointment they wouldn't give me an operation date, it would still be weeks away."

Choosing to go through private healthcare meant that the operation was done in a matter of weeks.

"It was only a couple of weeks. I'm quite sure. I went through my notes."

A Lakes health board spokesperson said most of the patients waiting for elective surgery would receive surgery within four months of the decision to operate.

"About 500 patients are currently waiting longer than that, predominately in dental and orthopaedics."

The longest a patient may need to wait for surgery is six months.

"Covid-19 and staffing issues have had a significant impact on patient waiting times," the spokesperson said.

Head of Emergency Department Dr Suzanne Moran (left) and Lakes DHB strategy, planning and funding director Karen Evison in 2020. Photo / File

When asked how the pandemic had affected wait times in Rotorua Hospital's emergency department, Head of Rotorua Hospital Emergency Department Dr Suzanne Moran said staff workload has increased.

"The pandemic has had an impact in how long people are waiting to be seen in ED because the workload on staff has increased," Moran said.

"We're having to isolate and separate outpatients and that means staff take longer to do things than before."

When asked what caused delays at the emergency department, Moran said delays occurred at every level.

"We can't control the speed at which patients arrive or the complexity of cases. We have other work going on in the hospital that sometimes pulls specialists away.

"It's completely unpredictable. We have consistent staffing levels but inconsistent patient volumes."

Moran said the Emergency Department worked as part of a wider hospital.

"When the rest of the hospital is busy that means it can be difficult to admit patients when beds are in short supply."

New Zealand Private Surgical Hospitals Association president Richard Whitney. Photo / NZME

This comes as Covid-19 cases continue to rise across New Zealand and hospitalisations increase and supply chain disruption begins to affect hospitals.

The Ministry of Health yesterday revealed one person with Covid-19 in the Lakes health board had died. There were 11 cases in hospital in the health board and 394 new cases yesterday.

New Zealand Private Surgical Hospitals Association president and Mercy Hospital Dunedin chief executive Richard Whitney said supply chains were absolutely "under pressure".

Whitney said there were a number of items affected including RATs and N95 masks. But the shortages were not limited to personal protective equipment against Covid-19.

"Orders that we place with suppliers for consumer items will be partially filled and then back-filled later.

"A simple example would be the N95 masks which are the preferred masks in clinical settings and typically hospitals would hold two or three months' supply of that. At the moment we're at six weeks' supply with no promise from supplier [that more will come]."

Whitney said there were also some limitations on pharmaceutical supplies.

"An important point to know is we do not have access to the public hospital or the Ministry of Health supply chain stocks."

Whitney said there was "no immediate solution" to the supply chain shortage and shortages would also make it difficult to maintain staff numbers as Covid-19 cases continued to multiply.

"It is inevitable that there will be a decline in our ability to admit patients."

Whitney said eventually patients may have to endure wait times of three to four months.