Life on hold awaiting treatment
Women suffering chronic pain as lack of health funding delays operations
Awoman whose treatment is delayed at Middlemore Hospital has slammed a “ridiculous” lack of funding that has meant her life “is on stop mode again”.
But Hayley Colling, 30, is full of praise for the staff at Counties Manukau DHB, including a surgeon who has gone above and beyond in helping treat her severe endometriosis, an inflammatory disease where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus is found outside the womb.
Colling has had three operations in the past few years, including a hysterectomy. After that major procedure she “had a pretty good run”, but recently her pain increased.
“My surgeon said, ‘Okay, we possibly need to look at doing another surgery’ but the process has gone from it being a three- to four-month wait, to more like nine months to a year.”
She has other conditions and hasn’t been able to work for the past six years. However, for a time after Colling’s last surgery she was able to live more normally and stepped-up volunteering work.
Now, she’s back to battling sideeffects from medications.
Middlemore Hospital has the country’s busiest women’s health service, and has had to prioritise surgery for the critically or acutely ill, or those with life-threatening conditions like cancer.
Other women with “non urgent” but nonetheless serious and often debilitating gynaecological conditions are declined because of a lack of capacity, including those with suspected endometriosis, incontinence, pelvic pain and prolapse.
“From my understanding, all of us are going by the wayside because of cancers or obesity issues. And that [prioritisation] is needed. But the rest of us are out here going, ‘Well, we can’t live’,” Colling said.
Middlemore staff “have a huge heart for patients, but they are stuck — my surgeon is paralysed because of the way the funding is”.
“I’ve been well enough to do stuff for a little bit of time — it’s been really nice to have a year of life, to a degree. And now I’m just on stop mode again. I have to just shut life down. I can’t plan one day to the next.”
Another woman, who asked not to be named because she works in the health sector, was referred by her GP for a laparoscopy to diagnose and remove mild to moderate endometriosis, and put on the waiting list in November 2017.
It was finally done in May this year, after the 24-year-old made a formal complaint about the delay and lack of communication.
During the wait she took heavyduty painkillers but struggled to function, often going to the emergency department in severe pain. At times she struggled to walk.
“I couldn’t get out of bed. I couldn’t unfold myself from the seated position, despite having enough codeine to knock out a horse.”
A major problem at Middlemore is a lack of operating theatre capacity. The DHB has started outsourcing some procedures to private practices.
Dr Sarah Tout, Counties Manukau’s clinical director of women’s health, acknowledged the women’s stories “describe the impact of prolonged waiting for surgery”. Theatre waiting times were decreasing and more women were getting surgery, she said.
“It is important that we accept referrals only for women we have the capacity to treat. All women with possible gynaecological malignancies, those with urgent gynaecological conditions and those who present when acutely unwell are accepted for assessment and treatment.”
Tout recently called on the Government to help, saying, “everyone is trying to do the best with what they have. But we don’t have enough to do what we want, or need, to do.”
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter, who has responsibility for women’s health, said Counties Manukau DHB got an extra $83 million in Budget 2019, “but we may need to do more”.