Whanganui Hospital beats Palmerston North Hospital hands down, writes reader.
Whanganui Hospital beats Palmerston North Hospital hands down, writes reader.
Be proud of our hospital
In the last few weeks I've had the privilege of sitting at the bedside of a loved one ... three weeks in Palmerston North Hospital and 10 days in Whanganui Hospital.
There is no comparison with the overall quality of these two facilities, Whanganui beingat the top in my opinion in most areas.
In the medical ward at Whanganui Hospital the nursing care was outstanding, technically and bedside care and attention A1.
When doctors gave an order for blood tests, transfusions, IV fluids, CT /x-rays or medication change it was immediately put into action, all done within the hour.
All auxiliary staff seem happy and in my opinion, the hospital here in Whanganui is extremely well run and an asset to our city.
VAL SOUTHCOMBE Whanganui
The Covid reality
Renate Schneider (Letters, August 7) thought our ICU facilities in NZ would have been overwhelmed by Covid-19 because we have relatively few critical care beds. This is what models predicted but what is the reality?
On March 24 we had 153 ICU beds, plus space and equipment to look after another 80 ICU patients. An additional 231 beds were capable of looking after ventilated patients, and a further 99 could be repurposed, giving a total of 563 beds and 520 ventilators.
Sweden, with more than two times our population never went over its ICU bed capacity and levelled off using 550 ICU beds, thus our 563 beds for half Sweden's population looks fine.
Sweden had been told in April, on the basis of a model, that critical care patients would peak above 20,000 by mid-May (40 times pre-pandemic capacity) with more than 80,000 deaths. They rejected the model as unrealistic. Just because a model is made by scientists does not mean it is "scientific" or a trustworthy basis for public policy.
In New Zealand we are constantly underfunded in virtually all aspects of healthcare. We have to wait 10 months on average for an operation, and as any user of ED knows the average wait is six hours or so. Also we are told certain drugs are too expensive, and seeing a specialist can take months.
Your letters
Covid-19 has cost us $35 million per life saved*. People say, "Well you can't put a price on life". However, that is what health professionals constantly do in the allocation of scarce resources over unlimited demand - they put a price on life and wellbeing ...
I am doubtful that the strategy Jonathan Hartfield mentions of minimising Covid-19 infections until a vaccine arrives (Letters, August 6) will even work in the long term. Already (Ed: As of August 13) we are seeing another potential full lockdown looming in Auckland with the new cases. I am afraid this is going to be repeated several times over with ever increasing costs in terms of money, mental health and total disruption of society. [Abridged]
STEPHEN ROSTRON Springvale
•Editor's note: Mr Rostron advises his figure of $35 million was calculated as follows: What Government is paying out - $50 billion, plus shortfall in income estimated by Inland Revenue of $49.2 billion all divided by estimate of lives saved at 50 per cent of Sweden's Covid toll - 2850. $99.2 billion divided by 2850 is $34.8 million.
