Mum forced to wait 18 months, in agony, for hip replacement
Every week, Jackie Elliott watches as her mum’s world grows smaller and smaller.
The Kāpiti Coast district councillor’s 78-year-old mother, whose name has been withheld at her request, has been waiting for a hip replacement for 18 months. She has been in constant, debilitating pain.
Upon hearing elective surgeries at Wellington Regional Hospital had been stopped for four weeks due to struggles with meeting demand, she burst into tears.
‘‘I think about what she could manage last week and I don’t want to think about what we have to cross off the list next week,’’ Elliott said. ‘‘Now her world is basically her couch, getting up for the bathroom.’’
Elliott’s mother had a big fall in January last year, suffering a brain bleed and concussion as well as injuring her hip.
A specialist put her on a waiting list for a replacement, warning her she would have to wait about five months for the surgery.
Since then, she has been bumped from the list twice.
X-rays taken a year later showed her condition had ‘‘deteriorated terribly’’.
‘‘We are talking about someone who, prior to this accident, was a very energetic, social person who regularly got out.’’
The family has struggled to find a home carer due to staff shortages in the sector.
Elliott and her sister split their time caring for their mother.
Both have families and jobs to juggle, and feel ‘‘so incredibly guilty’’ when not with their mother, who lives alone. Sometimes they call on a nearby grandson to check on her when she cannot be reached on the phone.
Elliott has also spent the past few months in ‘‘a bubble’’, attending council meetings via Zoom, so she can be ready to help her mum pre- and post-op. ‘‘Now there is no op.’’
The family had even looked at getting the surgery done privately but cost was a barrier with it quoted at about $45,000.
She worried about the hundreds of others in the same situation without family support.
Elliott wanted to see the borders opened for overseas medical professionals to tackle the ‘‘surgery crisis’’.
John Tait, interim district director for Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand Capital, Coast & Hutt Valley, acknowledged the frustration and distress caused by delays. But, he said, hospital services were experiencing ‘‘ongoing pressure’’ due to increased influenza and winter demand, ongoing high occupancy and high volumes of emergency department presentations.
These challenges had been exacerbated by staff absences due to the long tail of Covid-19, isolation requirements and other
illness. ‘‘High staff absences are having a direct impact on our ability to carry out planned care,’’ he said.
Tait said reducing planned care was not something taken lightly, with deferral decisions made on a ‘‘case-by-case basis’’ by senior clinical and nursing teams.
Patients with greater clinical urgency, such as birthing and cancer care, were prioritised above non-urgent treatment, he said.
Those whose procedures had been scheduled for this period had been contacted, he said.
Tait urged any patients whose condition had deteriorated to contact their general practice doctor in the first instance or to call 111 in an emergency.