Elective surgeries outsourced
The Southern District Health Board is contracting other district health boards, as well as external providers, to help deal with a backlog of elective surgeries throughout the region.
Reducing the wait time for elective surgeries is one of the treatment targets the health board has to report on, but meeting the requirements set by the Ministry of Health has continued to be challenging.
Health Board specialist services executive director Patrick Ng said the backlog was caused by greater than expected demand for acute surgeries, which are prioritised above elective surgeries.
A range of surgeries were being outsourced to local private facili- ties, with orthopaedics and general surgery dominating, Ng said.
Similar issues were being experienced in Southland Hospital and Dunedin Hospital, indicating a regional challenge rather than one linked to a particular hospital.
The health board started additional outsourcing of elective surgeries in late February to make up the shortfall in surgeries being performed.
Between July 1, 2017 and the end of February, 287 elective surgery patients were treated by other district health boards, while 296 patients were outsourced, accord- ing to the Hospital Advisory Committee key performance indicators summary. In spite of the challenges the health board believed targets for elective surgeries could still be met.
‘‘We are aiming to achieve our full year elective target by the end of the year, which is June 30th,’’ Ng said.
The outsourcing of elective cases has helped to alleviate the additional pressure created by the greater than expected acute surgery demand, with the health board currently ahead of where it was this time last year in terms of meeting elective surgery targets.
Increased demand during winter tends to place additional demands on the region’s hospitals, but it would be managed by opening additional inpatient beds during winter, which should allow the hospitals to complete more surgeries, Ng said.
The elective theatre and bed capacity in Southland was highlighted as an area receiving particular attention.
Demand was also being managed by trying to clear more elective surgeries prior to winter, in order to create capacity before moving into a higher demand period during the season.
‘‘We are also outsourcing slightly more elective cases now, which will give us a bit more leeway for managing acute demand as we move into winter whilst still targeting the achievement of our elective requirements by the end of the year,’’ he said.