Hawke's Bay DHB chief medical and dental officer Robin Whyman has asked people with mild symptoms and illnesses to stay home. Photo / Warren Buckland
Hawke's Bay DHB chief medical and dental officer Robin Whyman has asked people with mild symptoms and illnesses to stay home. Photo / Warren Buckland
Hawke's Bay Hospital's emergency department has experienced its two busiest days on record following a "combination of factors" including the spread of the flu and Covid.
Hawke's Bay DHB chief medical and dental officer Robin Whyman said a record number of people presented to the ED on Monday (192 people) and Tuesday (196 people).
"We have been increasingly busy over the last week, and on Monday and Tuesday we had record numbers of presentations to our emergency department, with just over 190 people a day presenting within each 24-hour period.
"That's the highest numbers Hawke's Bay has had in its emergency department on our records."
He said generally they would expect to see around 130 presentations per day.
Dr Whyman said medical practices within the community were also reporting high demand at present, and it was not unique to the hospital.
It comes as the Hawke's Bay District Health Board is recommending, where possible, people with mild symptoms and illnesses stay home to help alleviate pressure on the health system.
"Our advice is if people have mild symptoms they can look after those symptoms at home.
"If they are seeking advice, they have a number of options available to them.
"They can ring their general medical practice and talk to the practice ... pharmacists are also available to talk to and Healthline [on 0800 611 116] is of course an important source of information for people as well."
The ED has been extremely busy this week at Hawke's Bay Hospital. Pictured is chief medical and dental officer Robin Whyman. Photo / Warren Buckland
Dr Whyman said where people had an emergency medical need the ED certainly remained available and patients would be looked after.
He said there appeared to be a "combination of factors" behind the influx of people presenting to the ED.
Dr Whyman said that included a "residual level of Covid" in the community, with some cases requiring admission to hospital, the spread of the flu and other viruses, plus normal presentations from various medical conditions and emergencies.
He said the Influenza A virus (the flu) appeared to be impacting a lot of people who were presenting with respiratory symptoms.
"All of it together has combined to create those high levels of demand," he said.
"The knock-on effect of all of that is it is not only affecting our presentations to the emergency department but of course those same conditions affect staffing, so our staff are also affected by similar infections causing a level of staff absence."
He said medical practices across the community were also being impacted with staff off sick.
"I think recognising that everybody is under pressure - nursing staff, allied health staff and medical staff - and just looking after each other and having patience is how we can get through this as a Hawke's Bay community."
He said if high demand in the ED caused disruption to other services and planned care at the hospital, impacted patients would be contacted and advised.
People visiting the hospital are also being reminded to wear a mask, which is a requirement.
Dr Whyman said people should also take the flu seriously by getting the flu vaccine and isolating at home if they fall ill with the virus.
