Anxious workers await outbreak

Staff aren’t confident the nation’s health system can cope with pressure of coronavirus, writes Andre Chumko.

HOSPITALS are being stretched to breaking point by the worsening coronavirus outbreak and will need extra support, union bosses say.

The Ministry of Health confirmed New Zealand’s fifth case of the virus yesterday.

It is treating two others as probable cases – one, a woman who returned to New Zealand from the infected Grand Princess cruise ship docked off California; the other, a family member of two of the already-confirmed cases.

Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said hundreds of close contacts of the five confirmed cases had been identified, and all are in self-isolation for 14 days, including 43 staff from North Shore Hospital.

Dr Deborah Powell, national secretary for the New Zealand Resident Doctors Association, said medical staff were under extraordinary pressure, and district health boards had to prioritise their wellbeing.

‘‘We are stretched. We are really stretched,’’ said Powell.

‘‘It’s not just our doctors and nurses, it’s our laboratory staff and our radiologists.

‘‘There are a whole lot of people in the hospital system that are stretched.

‘‘There isn’t any more give in our system anymore, we are at our limit.’’

Powell said DHBs needed to be treating clinical frontline staff ‘‘properly’’, including making sure they were adequately protected at work.

‘‘They’ll work themselves to exhaustion. They’ll give it their all for their patients, really put themselves at risk because they care.

‘‘They are carers. They work long hours, they suffer burnout, they’re a dedicated, truly committed bunch of people.’’

As such, DHBs needed to make care of staff a priority.

Powell feared the ‘‘double whammy’’ of a rapid increase in coronavirus cases coinciding with the flu season.

‘‘We are stretched. We are really stretched.’’ Deborah Powell, above

Adding to the workload, people were turning up to the Emergency Department with colds and asking to be tested for the virus, despite not meeting the criteria.

New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation associate professional services manager Hilary GrahamSmith said coronavirus was going to place an ‘‘enormous strain’’ on the public health system.

Concerns had been raised about staff not having the right personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep themselves safe, Graham-Smith said, which had been brought up with several DHBs already.

Existing health and safety legislation requires appropriate protection for workers.

Anxious members had approached Graham

Smith directly, asking whether the public health system would ‘‘actually be ready’’ to cope with a sustained community outbreak.

Many workers also questioned their employers directly about the country’s state of readiness, she said.

‘‘Where will those extra staff come from? That’s the 64 million dollar question. We are already understaffed.’’

In disasters like the Christchurch earthquakes and mosque shootings, nurses and doctors typically ‘‘get their boots on and provide whatever is required’’, she said.

But in reality the number of people was unknown and would not be known until the situation evolved.

‘‘Underfunding of the system is like a chronic condition in New Zealand. We see that in terms of the nursing workforce and pressure they’re under on a daily basis. If we get a rapid increase in cases . . . that would be significant cause for concern.’’

Bloomfield said yesterday that every DHB had been contacted to ensure they had enough PPE for staffers.

There was a ‘‘whole range of things under way’’ to help the wider health system cope with an outbreak, he said.

The health ministry had spoken with both the Medical Council and Nursing Council about reissuing recently-retired doctors and nurses with practicing certificates, if extra staff were required.

Every DHB also had a ‘‘good plan’’ in place, which they were refining, he said. Hospitals could possibly look at shutting down entire wards to treat coronavirus patients.

Several DHBs contacted by the Sunday StarTimes reiterated they were well placed to deal with a coronavirus outbreak, however little detail was provided about what that would look like in reality.

Worldwide, there have been more than 101,000 confirmed cases, and more than 3400 deaths. New Zealand’s health ministry remains adamant the risk of a sustained community outbreak is low.

In Australia, a doctor who has tested positive for coronavirus consulted about 70 Melbourne patients for five days while infected.