Nelson Hospital waitlists worse than ever despite Health NZ review

A year on from a 1News investigation that sparked a scathing review into Nelson Hospital and patients are waiting longer than ever to be seen.

Figures released under the Official Information Act show in January 2025 there were 36,187 on a waitlist, which has risen to 37,382 in January this year.

The vast majority of patients are waiting longer than they should be, with 20,498 on a waitlist longer than the recommended four months.

Dr Katie Ben who is an anaesthetist at Nelson Hospital and head of the senior doctors union says while some progress has been made in the last year in areas like infrastructure, some things haven't changed.

"We still have patients waiting unacceptable times for investigations and treatment," Ben said.

There were meant to be seven senior doctors in Nelson Hospital's ICU department but, when Dr Andreas Brodbeck was interviewed by 1News last year, there were just four.

At the time, hopes were high more would be added but that hadn't happened.

"Unfortunately, we are down to three intensive care doctors only and we rely a lot to colleagues from other hospitals to help with locums," Brodbeck said.

"I have been advised not to be interviewed again as the reporting a year ago was perceived as making recruitment much more difficult"

Originally from Germany, Brodbeck said there was a shortage of ICU doctors worldwide butmore could be done to recruit by offering doctors more money or extra leave to return home.

"Nelson is a great place to work, I have wonderful colleagues. We give very good care to our patients".

Brodbeck said the issues Nelson faced were not unique and could be seen across the country.

Nelson Hospital's issues were well known after senior doctors went public last March with their concerns that waitlists and low staffing was putting patients lives at risk.

Last April, Health NZ's chief clinical officer Dr Richard Sullivan said: "I am very confident things will change... hope to have some answers in the next few weeks".

A high level Health New Zealand team was flown in and a scathing July review found issues across the board. The review pinpointed problems with hospital culture, a leadership structure that wasn't fit for purpose and "significant" staffing issues.

Since the initial 1News stories, three senior doctors, 12 junior doctors and 28 ED staff, for the expanded department, have been hired.

But the senior doctors union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, said a lot more are needed. It says 48 extra senior doctors are needed to cope with the current workload across Nelson and Blenheim.

Another senior doctor who didn't want to be identified said: “I think there’s still a large amount of cynicism and overwhelm in the consultant staff”. But the recent change in leadership has been a good thing. “People are a little more hopeful”.

Former hospital boss Lexie O'Shea was seconded to a new position last year and replaced by Jo Gibbs as the interim group director of operations for Nelson Marlborough.

Another senior doctor said retaining staff was an ongoing issue as the workloads were too high. "At least two or three I know of that have taken long leave for burnout".

Ben said many hoped more progress would have been made in a year but it took time to turn things around.

"We have been raising these issues for a very long time and in a way I wish they had heard and acted before we had to get TVNZ involved but at least they have listened".

No one from Health NZ would be interviewed for this story but, in a statement, interim hospital boss Jo Gibbs said they were working hard to address the issues.

"Despite increasing demand, Nelson Marlborough continues to prioritise patient care and is actively working to improve wait times and access to treatment across all specialties."

She pointed to some areas of improvement, including a 40% reduction in the number of patients waiting longer than a year for a first specialist appointment.

Gibbs said the hospital was using resources from across the region to assist the Nelson teams in hard to recruit areas such as dermatology, urology, and neurology.

She said infrastructure improvements will boost inpatient capacity issues and ease bed pressure, before the wider hospital redevelopment is completed.

"Our hospital redevelopment is well underway, most recently with construction starting on a rapid-build 28 bed inpatient ward, which will allow services to be relocated while major redevelopment work progresses".

Health Minister Simeon Brown said the government has a plan to address the challenges at Nelson Hospital- including rebuilding services, strengthening leadership and addressing workforce issues.

“We expect performance to improve as these changes take effect, and we are reporting this progress against our health targets. Our priority is ensuring the people of Nelson remain at the centre of this work.”