Hospitals ‘not keeping up’
As Palmerston North Hospital battles capacity problems, including an overflowing emergency department, reporter Georgia Forrester asks candidates whether its facilities are up to scratch.
Aman with a crushed foot was given a blanket and forced to sit and wait for treatment in Palmerston North Hospital’s emergency department recently.
Other patients have had to wait up to 15 hours for treatment as staff struggled to clear the backlog in ED during the winter months.
The hospital neared a crisis in June as its 350 beds were full, so some patients couldn’t be admitted.
The number of days the hospital operated at or near capacity more than doubled in the past financial year – a situation the Midcentral District Health Board said it was able to handle. But is the hospital coping? Are its facilities adequate?
Ahead of the general election, questions were put to the four candidates in the Palmerston North electorate, who were asked to speak on solutions to the city’s health problems.
The situation of the man with a crushed foot waiting for treatment was just one that NZ First list MP and candidate Darroch Ball said highlighted problems with the capacity of the emergency department.
There were not enough resources and funding at Midcentral and other health boards, Ball said.
‘‘It’s not enough and it’s not keeping up with the demand,’’ he said.
Both the high number of people presenting at Palmerston North’s emergency department, and mental health and drug and addiction services, were of concern, Ball said.
But Ball said it was not the hospital’s fault. It mostly came down to funding.
He said mental health centres were at capacity and had no spare beds, and hospitals had to ‘‘deal with all these issues’’.
Ball said he supported a review into the mental health system.
Green Party candidate Thomas Nash said parts of the Palmerston North Hospital were ‘‘not fit-for-purpose at the moment’’.
Operating theatres were small and equipment needed to be upgraded, he said.
Mental health services were ‘‘completely overloaded’’, and more needed to be done to sort that out.
Nash said he supported community Labour Party
Darroch Ball
NZ First
approaches to healthcare. Integrated centres, such as Palmerston North’s Health Hub, were one way to improve access to a range of services.
Nash said hospitals and services across the North Island were struggling to keep up with demand and this was a symptom of the ‘‘chronic underfunding and mismanagement of the Government’’.
New Zealand’s health system needed an ‘‘urgent change of direction’’, he said.
He said he supported people under 18 having free doctor’s visits and prescriptions. He also said there should be nurses in all schools in poorer areas.
National candidate Adrienne Pierce said Midcentral DHB was performing well.
It was doing well in meeting some targets, including improved access to elective –scheduled – surgery.
With the problem of increasing demand, Pierce said the answer was ‘‘to do more’’.
Midcentral also had recent success in meeting its targets of shorter stays in ED, in immunising 8-month-olds and in helping people to quit smoking.
‘‘We are also very lucky in Palmerston North to have private facilities, including Broadway Radiology and Crest Hospital, which gives options,’’ she said.
Asked whether Palmerston North
Thomas Nash
Green Party
Adrienne Pierce
National Party
Hospital’s facilities were up to standard, Pierce said there was always more to do, especially regarding technology and capital investment in hospitals.
‘‘National has been a supportive Government in this area and we will continue to do so.’’
Patient waiting lists needed attention, Pierce said.
To support this, more than 80 doctors and 140 nurses had been hired at Midcentral DHB since 2008, and funding for the DHB’S 2017-18 financial year had also increased, she said.
Labour MP Iain Lees-galloway said there was no doubt facilities at Palmerston North Hospital needed upgrading.
‘‘The problem is our DHB is running on the smell of an oily rag.’’
He said attracting doctors to the area was also a struggle. A recent example was the months it took to get a replacement rheumatologist.
‘‘We don’t have enough endocrinologists to provide the services we need. There’s most definitely gaps.’’
Staff shortages often came down to salary packages that were being offered.
Lees-galloway also said Manawatu’s crisis services were ‘‘struggling way beyond capacity’’.
He said the health system was chronically underfunded right across the board.