Bed shortage delays boy’s op four times
‘I SEE MY WEE BOY STRUGGLING EVERY DAY’
Little Lucca Topp is only three but has already had four open-heart operations.
But a fifth surgery to address his rare condition has been delayed four times because of a lack of suitable beds at Auckland’s Starship Hospital, leaving him having seizures, going blue and regularly tired from a lack of oxygen.
Adding to the anguish of his parents Gabrielle and Mike Topp, his little brother Rocco almost died when he was born eight weeks ago, having to be resuscitated twice after his C-section birth was delayed by a week because of another bed short- age.
The family’s traumatic plight is illustrative of a woefully underresourced paediatric system, and has left the Topps with little faith in the nation’s healthcare.
‘‘I see my wee boy struggling every day and it breaks my heart,’’ Gabrielle Topp said. ‘‘Why are there not enough beds, nurses, doctors and surgeons for all the sick children?
‘‘How many babies are they going to lose?’’
Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) shortages are not a new issue.
Despite health professionals, government reports and families of sick children repeatedly calling for more resourcing over the past four years, the situation does not appear to be improving fast enough.
Starship director Dr John Beca said while PICU had been going ‘‘through periods of increased demand’’, plans were in place to continue to provide safe, high quality care.
‘‘Decisions about postponing surgery are never made lightly and are always based on clinical priority and safety.’’
Surgery delays
Born with a rare heart condition in 2017, Lucca has had to endure four open-heart surgeries in his short life.
A fifth procedure was scheduled for March 10 at Starship Hospital, and Lucca flew with his dad from their Christchurch home to Auckland a few days early to get ready for the surgery that Wednesday.
A lack of PICU beds meant it was bumped to Thursday, then Friday. Eventually the pair were told to fly home and return on Monday for surgery the next day. But before they could, they were told the surgery would be delayed again.
The surgeon told them then it needed to be done within the next two weeks and booked Lucca in for March 31. But a week before, a nurse rang to say the operation would have to be postponed again because of lack of beds.
Gabrielle Topp said they were left with no answers as to when their son would have surgery, and whether he would be OK until then.
It wasn’t until days later that they heard from the surgeon, who apologised for the delays and said Lucca would be fine to have surgery in April or May.
His operation has now been scheduled for April 13, but the surgeon told the parents it could be bumped again to May if there was another shortage of PICU beds.
‘‘We’ve had to reorganise our business to be ready to go for surgery each time,’’ Gabrielle Topp said. ‘‘We put everything on hold, and then it gets bumped.’’
Birth delays
It has been a stressful year for the family, who own Christchurch’s Meshino cafes.
In late January, Gabrielle Topp was 35 weeks pregnant with her third son, Rocco. She was experiencing strong pain and Rocco had stopped moving, her pregnancy made complicated after her waters broke at 27 weeks. She had been in and out of hospital for weekly checks since then, trying to keep Rocco in utero as long as possible.
When she went for a growth scan at 35 weeks, she was told not to worry and everything was fine. It took her persistence about her baby’s lack of movement for her worries to be taken seriously, only for an early C-section to be delayed a week because there were no NICU beds anywhere around the country.
Women with high-risk pregnancies routinely have to be sent to other centres to give birth when Christchurch NICU runs out of beds.
‘‘I had a total breakdown when they told me this,’’ she said. ‘‘I was shaking, in tears. I knew something was not right and Rocco needed to come out.’’
Gabrielle Topp spent the week riddled with anxiety, unable to eat or sleep and experiencing regular panic attacks.
When he was finally born, Rocco had to be resuscitated twice because parts of his lung had not developed properly. His mother said the medical team told her he should have been born a week earlier and would have been better off for it.
Rocco then spent a week in an
overloaded Christchurch NICU, where Gabrielle said there were 61 babies for a 44-bed capacity.
Overcrowded units
Last year Stuff reported that NICUs around the country continue to struggle with overcrowding – more than a year after the Ministry of Health was told they urgently needed more resources.
Canterbury District Health Board clinical director Dr Nicola Austin said Christchurch’s NICU has, on average, operated at or above full capacity since 2017.
Because of this, it transferred 33 women with high-risk pregnancies to other cities to give birth last year.
Recently, transfer requests have been rejected more frequently because of capacity issues in other centres, Austin said.
When this happens, babies are delivered anyway if there is ‘‘any imminent safety concern for the mother or baby’’. Births are delayed if it is safe to do so.
A $25 million extension of Starship’s PICU, which the Government announced in 2020, will start later this year, Beca said. Senior hospital staff previously said the expansion was ‘‘urgent’’, coming after years of ‘‘unprecedented’’ critical care capacity issues.
More than 1200 critically ill and injured children visit the intensive care unit for treatment each year. It has 22 beds and will get an additional four ICU beds and eight high dependency beds.
Beca said waiting for a tamariki’s surgery after families had prepared for it could be an anxious time for wha¯nau, especially those whose surgery was postponed more than once.
‘‘We review our cardiac waiting lists frequently to ensure that patients with the greatest clinical need are prioritised and that all our patients are receiving safe care in a clinically appropriate timeframe.’’
Demand has increased over the years because of population growth and changes in care and treatment.