More senior staff to help share load

An injection of senior staff could help Palmerston North Hospital cope with continuing high numbers of people turning up at its Emergency Department.

Acute and elective specialist services operations executive Lyn Horgan told Midcentral District Health Board members meeting yesterday a fifth senior medical officer had been offered a job as a doctor in the unit.

As well, seven senior registrars started work in ED in January, which was the first time ever that the department had had so many.

A third nurse had begun nurse practitioner training, who would become the third nurse practitioner working in ED by the end of the year. The goal was to have five.

Horgan said it was a significant improvement to the seniority of the ED workforce.

Palmerston North Hospital’s emergency department has for many months been besieged by burgeoning numbers of people arriving at the door.

The problem was common across New Zealand, but Midcentral Health’s issue was as big as any, with 4121 presentations in October, the busiest month in a year.

The national target was to have 95 per cent of people admitted or discharged from ED within six hours. Midcentral Health’s figure for the past 12 months was 73 per cent.

Horgan said some of the recent pressure came from unusually high numbers of people injured in road crashes.

The monthly average was 33 road crash victims but in January there were 42, and in February there were 47.

The hospital itself had peaks of high demand in February and March, with days when there were more patients than there were staffed beds.

Board chairman Brendan Duffy said it was clear a lot of work had gone into recruiting staff with skills that were in demand internationally, and he was keen to see that have a positive impact.