The pain of an ailing system

Elective surgery patients around the country are waiting longer for treatment as hospitals fail to meet Ministry of Health targets. This is one case.

"I do literally feel you are a number on a list, you're not a person … Your life is at the mercy of where you are on that list."

Patient whose surgery was cancelled at the last minute

Karen Smith* had spent months mentally preparing for the operation. Her sick leave was booked and a relative was flying down from Rotorua to help look after her children.

The 33-year-old Ashburton woman had driven the hour-long trip to Christchurch Hospital, nervous but ready.

Forty minutes before her hysterectomy procedure was to start, it was cancelled.

‘‘I cried. I cried a lot,’’ she said. Her experience is symptomatic of public hospitals’ struggle to keep up with elective surgery needs.

Many pay private providers to carry out publicly-funded elective surgeries in an effort to meet their targets.

District health boards (DHBs) are supposed to treat all patients within 120 days of a procedure being confirmed but, since June 2017, none have met the Ministry of Health-set target.

The Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) was behind by more than 200 elective surgery discharges in December.

A delay in the construction of a link between the city’s soon-to-be-complete acute services building and the hospital caused a number of elective operations to be postponed or outsourced to private providers, including 32 gynaecology procedures to Southern Cross Hospital, a CDHB spokeswoman said.

Smith, a retail assistant and mother of two, has had major bowel and menstrual problems for the past six years, which have caused constant abdominal pain and bleeding.

After 10 previous failed procedures and medical interventions, a gynaecologist told her in December a hysterectomy was the last option.

It was booked for March 22. She spent the time mentally preparing and ‘‘grieving’’ ahead of the major surgery, which has a three-month recovery period, to remove her uterus.

‘‘Emotionally I was drained. I wasn’t ready to have my ability to have children taken away from me at the age of 33.

‘‘I was worried about how I was going to cope financially, how I was going to cope with my kids, how my partner was going to cope.’’

Smith was looking forward to getting back to full health after the surgery.

‘‘My life has been on hold for six years because I’m constantly waiting for things to improve or for someone to listen or for someone to just do something.’’

Her aunt, who lived in Rotorua, was due to arrive in Christchurch the morning of the surgery and stay for a fortnight to help look after Smith’s two primary schoolaged children.

Smith had been granted up to 12 weeks’ paid sick leave by her employer.

When she arrived at the private Southern Cross Hospital she was told her procedure, under the public health system, would start at 8.30am.

At 7.50am she said a nurse told her it had been cancelled and that she should go home.

‘‘Then I left – and I cried.’’ She made a complaint and said a manager at Christchurch Women’s Hospital called to apologise for the cancellation, saying it was caused by a ‘‘communication error’’.

She was told the surgeon had called in sick to Southern Cross, but the news was not relayed to Christchurch Women’s staff, so they had no opportunity to allocate another surgeon.

The procedure had been rebooked for April 24 at Christchurch Hospital and could go ahead earlier if there was a cancellation.

Smith said the experience was extremely upsetting.

‘‘I do literally feel you are a number on a list, you’re not a person … Your life is at the mercy of where you are on that list.’’

The ministry said the published results for Canterbury, MidCentral and Wairarapa DHBs did not reflect ‘‘actual patient numbers’’ due to issues created by an upgrade of a patient data system.

CDHB funding and planning manager Carolyn Gullery said the DHB worked hard to deliver an increased number of elective surgeries each year despite challenges, including a lack of theatre space.

‘‘Canterbury DHB is extremely conscious of the impact on patients of delays, which is why we focus on getting all patients through in a timely manner and generally succeed.’’

* Not her real name.