Health system’s response ‘truly extraordinary’

Victims of the Christchurch terror attacks have collectively spent more than six days non-stop in surgery since March 15.

As of April 1, patients who suffered gunshot wounds in the attack on two city mosques had spent more than 8800 minutes in operating theatres at Christchurch Hospital. By then, there had been 75 surgeries.

Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) chief executive David Meates included the figures in his written update to the board for its meeting on Thursday. Speaking at the meeting, Meates praised staff and said the health system response had been truly extraordinary.

In the space of about an hour, 48 people with gunshot wounds presented to Christchurch Hospital. The emergency department was cleared to handle the influx of people, and staff had to figure out how to free up operating theatres in use at the time.

In his written update, Meates said there was no precedent locally for the number of victims with gunshot wounds arriving at one hospital, and it was unusual even in an international context as patients were usually spread across multiple trauma centres.

‘‘It is notable that everyone who was resuscitated in our emergency department survived,’’ Meates said.

Surgeons of almost all specialties, anaesthetists and theatre staff were called in and worked the Friday night and over the weekend. There were 12 acute theatres in use on Friday and Saturday, dropping to seven on the Sunday.

As of April 1, patients had spent 2271 hours in the intensive care unit.

During and following the immediate response, Meates said planned surgery had been deferred to enable timely management of

‘‘It is notable that everyone who was resuscitated in our emergency department survived.’’ David Meates, Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) chief executive

acute work. Patients from other district health board areas who would usually be transferred to Canterbury had also been diverted elsewhere.

As they arrived in the emergency department, a social worker was allocated to each patient. Specialist mental health staff were also deployed on Saturday to support the families.

Meates said when they were discharged, patients received a wraparound package of care for what was likely to be a long-haul recovery or, in some cases, permanent disability.

As of Thursday, he said nine patients remained in hospitals in Canterbury: six at Christchurch Hospital, including one person who remained in intensive care, and three people at Burwood Hospital.

While Meates said the response had been extraordinary, he warned against seeing the March 15 terror attack in isolation. It came on top of existing stressors in the community, he said, including ongoing impacts from the earthquakes.

It would be years before the CDHB returned to ‘‘business as usual’’, he said.

A finance report presented at the board meeting said the impact of the mosque attacks was expected to be costly for the CDHB, which has signalled to the Ministry of Health it will need additional resources.

The CDHB was engaging with the ministry around its response, Meates said.