Patient care is being severely affected at Christchurch Hospital, with the emergency department hitting code red almost every day, and a senior doctor saying they need more resources.
And Christchurch’s not alone, with ED doctors nationwide backing a call for help, saying the immense pressure is compromising both patient care and staff safety.
Emergency department doctors penned an open letter to Health New Zealand on September 5, pleading for a set of solutions to be rolled out as soon as possible.
Christchurch ED doctor Dominic Fleischer told 1News patients were dying because of substandard care, and the situation was hurting staff and those they were treating.
"Patients are dying now really because of substandard care. Patients dying in the waiting room and corridors or who leave and literally drop dead in the car park. So that's all happened. That's atrocious care at some stage and it hurts the staff when things like that happen.
"We're in code red every day. Now that's our highest code of overload, and part of that plan, at some stage, is to set up a care facility outside of ED, literally a tent.
“In truth, there is a tent, but there's no staff to care for patients in that tent.”
Nelson Hospital's ED head Harriet Harper was a joint signatory to the letter calling for better resourcing and joined Breakfast this morning. (Source: Breakfast)
Some patients at the hospital were waiting more than 24 hours to be seen – the target was six.
Concerns at hospitals across the motu
Head of Emergency Department at Nelson Hospital Dr Harriet Harper echoed Fleischer’s concerns.
“You can get to midnight, and you can still see there's three families sitting in the waiting room with children,” she said.
“There's 20 people still waiting to be seen in the department and you kind of have to leave because you know you're potentially coming back.”
A July review into Nelson Hospital by Health NZ uncovered “significant” staffing issues that were putting patients’ lives at risk.
A senior doctor at the hospital told 1News in March he thought they were failing the community, and staffing pressures and long wait times were taking a toll.
ED data from August, leaked to the Labour Party, showed many of the country’s major hospitals were failing to meet the government's wait-time targets, according to the NZ Herald.
New Zealand's 23 hospitals were processing, on average, between 69-71% of patients within six hours. The government set a target of 74% for 2024/25 and 77% for 2025/26.
“It's very easy to look around and think ‘well, this is only getting worse for everyone’,” Harper said.
Emergency departments a 'continuous priority' - Health Minister
Minister of Health Simeon Brown told 1News he has made his expectations clear to Health NZ.
"This needs to be a continuous priority to make sure all patients are seen in a timely manner in our emergency departments up and down our country,” he said.
$20m extra for frontline staffing over the next nine months was included as part of this year's Budget.
Health NZ Director of Starship Child Health Dr Mike Shepherd wanted to assure people the ED system was not being ignored.
“I think we can definitely improve things, we can make the timeliness better, we can improve the way that we deliver care, but I think I can reassure the public that it's a safe system,” he said.
He pointed to staff increases and hospital in the home services as examples of system improvements.
But Fleischer was clear that much more needed to be done.
“Here and now, we need more resources… EDs across the country need more doctors, more nurses and more space,” he said.
“That's what we need now, today. [It] should have been done yesterday.”
The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including Liam Lawson’s best result, recognition for a Palestinian state, and the best view of today’s partial solar eclipse. (Source: 1News)
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