Long, painful wait for elective surgery

PERSEVERANCE: Jim Ryniker is in constant pain while waiting for his hip operation but worries there are other people worse than him. PHOTO/PAUL TAYLOR

Pain means Jim Ryniker can no longer do simple tasks such as mowing the lawn and he says watching his wife cut the grass at their Havelock North house "does nothing for your self-esteem".

He is waiting for hip surgery through the Hawke's Bay District Health Board, due by the end of March.

"The top of the socket has worn away so the bone of my femur is rubbing against the bone of the pelvis," he said.

"I can feel a grinding as I walk. That is not great."

He said he can still get around.

"You can do anything you like, it's just a matter of how many painkillers you take or what you can put up with."

The former Hutt Valley Health board member had a sore hip for two years before he went to his GP in January.

He was referred to an orthopaedic surgeon in February but there was a possible circulation problem in his leg, he said.

"It took two months to get a Doppler scan and then it was more than two months for somebody to get around to reading it and meet with me to discuss it.

"That is the sort of procedure that, for an in-patient, should be done and dusted within a day."

In July he was told his circulation would not stop him having an operation and his next appointment was with a physiotherapist, who advised him to "get some crutches and do things like raise my toilet seat and get something to help me put my socks on with."

Mr Ryniker had an appointment with a surgeon on September 2, who told him he "ticked all the boxes".

The pensioner was asked to sign forms and if he was available to "come in quickly if there was a cancellation".

"I was a priority case and he would do all he could."

Mr Ryniker said the doctor went on leave "but that is not my problem, that is for the hospital to sort out - they have plenty of resources."

He said he had regularly put in phonecalls to the manager of elective service surgery "and asked them what the story is".

"I put it to him that they are stalling me off because they don't want me on the list ... "

He said he feels denied - he has lost a year "just sitting around doing nothing, because they can't do anything", but what bothers him most is there are people suffering more while they wait.

"There are people out there that are probably worse than I, but God knows how many of them.

"The system is just not working.

"I don't know how other people get by. I am 77 years but I am pretty fit. At the beginning of the year I was playing golf three times a week. Now I can't play golf at all. I have to watch my wife mow the lawns. God, it does nothing for your self-esteem."

He said he was in "a good deal of pain".

"My nights are so disturbed that now Margaret and I are not sleeping together - I hate that. I have to get up to three times a night to take some more painkillers."

He is no stranger to surgery.

"I could dig into my piggy bank and that and have it done more quickly at Royston but I have been retired now since 1998.

"You try and build up for a decent retirement but unfortunately just a few years before I was retiring my son had to have a liver transplant in Sydney, they weren't doing them here at that stage, and it put me back $100,000.

"I have since had a knee replacement but I didn't trouble the public system for that either.

"So I've spent enough on medical treatment - they owe me one.

"So now I'm thinking it's my time to get something."

More than 6000 people received taxpayer-funded elective surgery in the last year.

Hawke's Bay District Health Board chief operating officer Warrick Frater said patients who received taxpayer-funded elective surgery would receive a letter from the district health board telling them that they were on the waiting list and that they would receive surgery within four months.

Surgery was offered to patients who had the greatest need and would benefit most, compared with patients with similar conditions.

"We understand it can be frustrating for patients, which is why we go through such a rigorous clinical process to make sure we fairly allocate it," Mr Frater said.

"Mr Ryniker has spoken to many district health board staff about his health issues.

"My staff and I have worked hard to make sure there are no issues in relation to his care or any unnecessary delays to him receiving treatment.

"He has been offered surgery, and while he might not have yet received a letter from us it will be done by the end of March next year."

In the latest published Ministry of Health targets, Hawke's Bay failed the Government target, scoring the second-lowest of the nation's health boards in the Improved Access to Elective Surgery category.

Mr Frater said there were not enough resources to offer surgery to everyone but the board was improving its capacity in theatre time "through a project targeted at improving capacity and productivity" and more operations at Royston Hospital.

While the board was not on track in the first quarter of the 2014/15 year, it expected to be close to the target at the end of the next quarter.