Hospitals hit 100% occupancy more than 600 times last year

Hospitals hit 100% occupancy more than 600 times last year, figures released to 1News reveal.

It means on average each day roughly two hospitals around the country were running at an occupancy higher than they were resourced for.

In the year to last November there were 656 instances when a hospital was at or over 100% occupancy. In 2021 this happened 708 times.

The figures, which were released to 1News under the Official Information Act, daunted those on the frontline.

Australasian College of Emergency Medicine's Dr Kate Allan says it's an issue that's been building for years.

"I think that's quite scary data to know that hospitals are so full. We definitely can feel that on the floor in the emergency department."

She says when hospital wards are at very high occupancy that's often when EDs become overcrowded with standing room only.

"When there's not enough beds our patients queue. They queue in our hallways, they queue in our ambulance bays, they queue in ambulances and they don't get seen in a timely manner."

The data also shows the instances where occupancy was the highest in 2022.

On January 6, 2022 Thames Hospital was at 117% occupancy, which meant it had 35 beds but 41 patients.

On three instances last year Christchurch Hospital hit 116% occupancy.

And the highest was Te Nīkau Grey Hospital when on 12 September it was at 139% occupancy. Extra beds were used and the hospital said "at no time... have there been any inpatients being cared for in corridors or other unstaffed areas".

When there's pressure on the system it's often appointments and non-emergent surgeries that are delayed or cancelled.

Jack Davis from Golden Bay has terminal cancer and knows about the delays well.

He's been waiting years for a surgery on his throat to help him eat as he's currently on a liquid diet following a previous cancer surgery.

"Because of Covid and the backlog of operations I was told my operation may never happen," Jack said.

He said initially the plan was to get the surgery in Nelson. But for a variety of reasons it was moved to Christchurch where there's a long waiting list with cases more critical than his.

Jack's wife Sally-Anne said the surgery would help his quality of life significantly.

She also says the pressure on the health system is obvious.

"We've had appointments that have been cancelled, or rescheduled. Or we've had a phone call that you can't go to your appointment today."

Jack is still trying to get to the bottom of if and when the surgery will happen.

"To be perfectly honest we're just gobsmacked at how people are having to wait and wait and wait."

Te Whatu Ora interim national medical director Dr Peter Watson says the data shows it's been a particularly busy last 12 months.

"That is an accurate representation of some of that real pressure on the system and what that's translated to is some really tough experiences for patients and whānau wanting health care, but also for staff providing that care."

The data provided to 1News isn't perfect. For example, some regions include maternity wards and ICU beds, while others don't.

This makes it difficult to compare occupancy across the country. Watson admits it's a hangover from the previous system.

"One of the problems we've got is that we've been measuring things differently," Watson said.

"As we've come from the old DHB system into a national system we're trying to standardise how we measure occupancy."

The regions that most often go over 100% occupancy are Waikato, Nelson-Marlborough, Hawke's Bay and Counties Manukau.

Watson said it may be because of how they measure occupancy or the population demands.

"So those hot spots will be areas we're really focusing on this year to ensure we support them and we'll be prioritising those areas and hospitals with higher demand and higher levels of occupancy."

Unfortunately, hospital demand isn't expected to get any better this year.

When it's busy staff can be moved between hospitals and patients can be directed to a less busy hospital.

But there's no quick fix for the staffing shortages and other issues at the root of the problem.

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists' Sarah Dalton said hospitals hit a critical point long before 100% occupancy.

"It says that our hospitals aren't large enough to cope with admissions. It also says that we don't have enough community facilities to allow patients to be discharged out of hospitals."

Dalton said the impact of the issue on staff is massive.

"When hospitals hit 100% on a regular basis what that means for staff is huge amount of stress, huge difficulty in providing best care for patients."