Hospitals at full capacity in the top of the south

The emergency departments at Nelson and Wairau Hospitals are currently experiencing ‘‘unusually high’’ demand for this time of year, the health board chief executive says.

As a result, some patients have had to wait more than six hours until a bed becomes available and elective surgeries have been cancelled.

In a report to the board, Nelson Marlborough Health chief executive Dr Peter Bramley said both hospitals had been at full capacity for the past two weeks.

‘‘We have had lots of people presenting to our emergency departments, acutely unwell and needing to be admitted, and we are literally running out of beds.’’

‘‘It is certainly putting us under pressure in terms of electives delivery because we are having to cancel some elective procedures,’’ Bramley said.

In April, there were 2075 presentations to the emergency department at Nelson Hospital and 1531 presentations to the emergency department at Wairau Hospital.

Acute admissions were higher during the month with 29 admis- sions per day over Easter Weekend, compared to the average of 17 admissions per day.

In April, 95 per cent of patients were admitted and discharged within six hours, as per the Ministry of Health guidelines.

The main reason patients were kept waiting for more than six hours was due to the waiting times for an available bed.

It highlighted the need for a new hospital and new models of care that supported keeping people well in the community along with short term measures to add additional beds.

‘‘We need to keep encouraging our community to get prepared for winter by getting their flu vaccination, visiting their GP for care early when unwell and keeping our emergency departments for emergencies,’’ Bramley said.