Neighbouring DHBs to share acute load
Wairarapa people needing urgent treatment for fractures will have to go to Wellington or Palmerston North as the region’s hospital is unable to deal with acute orthopaedic surgery.
A shortage in surgical specialists has led to the decision to cut back orthopaedic services at Wairarapa Hospital in Masterton. The hospital was down one surgeon from its optimum capacity and with another going on leave, the district health board said it could no longer cater to all the region’s orthopaedic needs.
Wairarapa DHB chief executive Dale Oliff said the closure of acute services was an ‘‘interim solution that will be regularly reviewed’’. ‘‘Wairarapa’s orthopaedic service is designed to be provided by four resident surgeons with some locum cover, rostered to provide 24/7 care. Currently only three surgeons are rostered, one of whom has leave planned from July, which leaves the hospital short of specialists to deliver a safe service.’’
Despite extensive recruitment efforts, staff could not be found for the positions, Oliff said. There were no suitable New Zealand-trained orthopaedic surgeons available and overseas applicants needed the approval of the Medical Council. ‘‘This is a complex process and so far the DHB has been unable to appoint any overseas applicants,’’ Oliff said. Last year, the DHB was in a similar position with a shortage of specialists. The DHB announced on Thursday evening it could no longer take acute patients although the policy was in place from the beginning of the day.
DHB spokeswoman Anna Cardno said it made the announcement ‘‘as soon as possible after first ensuring our staff, healthcare teams and key stakeholders were informed’’. ‘‘All communication, including the public announcement, was made within 24 hours of the work-force constraints forcing a clinical decision to make the temporary service change.’’
Wairarapa Hospital carried out about 400 acute orthopaedic procedures a year which would be offloaded to Hutt, Capital and Coast, and MidCentral DHBs while the new measures were in place.
Cardno said the board recognised all DHBs were under pressure and it would be spreading the load.
‘‘Our three neighbouring DHBs have agreed to manage our acute patient workload on a rostered basis and for that we are grateful.’’
More use of the Life Flight aircraft transporting patients out of the region was not envisaged but it was likely there would be more ambulance trips by road.