Surgery cancellation cuts like a knife

The cancellation text was a shock. After months on the waitlist, I was only a few days out from my date with the scalpel. But the “theatre list” was now “not going ahead” that August day.

The words swam in front of my eyes as the realisation relief was no longer in sight crashed down on me.

I texted back “ok thanks”, and fell to pieces.

I am one of the thousands on the planned care (previously known as elective surgery) waiting list, trying to be patient as the health system attempts to deal with a huge backlog of non-urgent surgeries while navigating a widespread staffing shortage and waiting rooms swamped with Covid-19 and other illnesses.

In the Tauranga and Whakata¯ ne hospital catchments, almost 2000 people were on the list as of earlier this month — three-quarters of whom did not have a date scheduled.

The latest data we have from Rotorua and Taupo, for the year to the end of June, showed 1700 patients waiting for elective surgery.

In September, I got what appeared to me to be a lightly personalised form letter letting me know I was still on the list.

Part of the letter said: “As at today, we are unable to provide a date for your appointment. We understand this is not the news you are hoping for.”

I don’t know how it went from surgery being imminent to completely up in the air, but I suspect it’s related to a reprioritisation process following a July edict giving local health authorities until the end of August to schedule surgeries for the 7500 people around the country who had been waiting longer than a year.

I’ll crack the year in January so perhaps there will be some movement then.

The directive was among the first from Health NZ’S planned care taskforce, convened to tackle the huge national waiting list. As of June, 35,264 people had been waiting longer than four months triple pre-pandemic numbers, Radio NZ reported.

The taskforce later released 101 recommendations for tackling the list but set itself no targets for when these would be achieved, which tells you everything you need to know about how fast this problem is being addressed.

I was initially not keen to write about being on the waiting list. The Kiwi instinct is to suffer in stoic silence. I did not want to seem to be using this platform for sympathy or to wallow in my situation. There are many people facing greater strife, pain and inconvenience than me.

Recently, however, other Bay of Plenty people stepped up and spoke publicly about the emotional impact and limitations placed on their lives as they face long, painful waits to get the surgery they need.

They put names and faces to the numbers, and their stories made me feel less like just another burden weighing on the system.

Tim is in a terrible catch-22. He needs hip surgery and can’t walk even 100m, but he also has been advised to keep fit to help prevent his prostate cancer from returning.

Louise, also waiting on a hip replacement, had to cut back her work hours due to her chronic pain.

Helen often has to use a wheelchair when she leaves the house and struggles with basic household chores.

In the past, it was quite hard to find people willing to talk publicly about waiting for surgery, but this story was different and has inspired others to speak out, too.

Maybe it’s because patients have one fewer avenue for health advocacy with the axing of elected representative roles when the district health boards were merged into Te Whatu Ora - Health NZ.

Maybe it’s because more patients waiting creates a greater sense of collective desperateness and anger that spurs people to try and inspire more efficient action.

It’s clear there are no quick fixes for a backlog that did not appear overnight.

But perhaps, while we wait, simply speaking out might help even one other person stuck in limbo on the list feel a little less like just a number.