Hospital keeps man in isolation for 115 days

Tens of thousands of people have been put in isolation in New Zealand hospitals to stop the spread of infection with one person largely confined to his room for 115 days.

At least 41,600 people were put in isolation in hospitals around the country between 2015 and October 31, 2017 — about 13,000 a year.

Only 10 of the country’s 20 district health boards were able to provide data showing how many patients were isolated to stop the spread of infection during that time so actual figures could be double that.

Norovirus, multi-drug resistant organisms, clostridium difficile, herpes, shingles, chickenpox, tuberculosis, measles, respiratory viruses, diarrhoea, rashes, scabies, whooping cough, mumps and meningococcal disease were all reasons for isolating patients according to hospitals.

The level of isolation varied and was categorised as contact, droplet or airborne but in each case the patient was directed to only leave the room when essential and take necessary precautions if they did.

Contact isolation required a staff member or visitor to wear gloves and a gown when in contact with the patient or other objects in the room.

Droplet isolation required people to wear a surgical mask when within a metre of the patient while airborne isolation required the door to be closed, a negative pressure room and the wearing of a particulate respirator when entering the room.

Patients with weak immune systems could also be placed into protective isolation.

One patient, who was in the care of Capital and Coast District Health Board, spent 276 days in hospital for a complicated surgical condition and was in contact isolation for 115 of those days because of the presence of a multi-drug resistant organism — most commonly bacteria which are resistant to antibiotics.

Other long stays included one patient isolated for 64 days and another for 59 days — both because of multi-drug resistant organisms. Most DHBs refused to provide details of their longest spells in isolation citing either privacy concerns or the time required to provide the information.

Contact isolation was the most common form, with the fewest people requiring airborne isolation.

Measles, chicken pox and tuberculosis were among reasons for the use of airborne isolation procedures.

University of Otago Professor Kurt Krause, director of the Webster Centre for Infectious Diseases, said contact precautions were highly effective and essential because most bacteria was spread by contact.