Twenty-six per cent of patients on Northland's surgical waiting list need an orthopaedic operation like a hip replacement. Photo / 123RF
Twenty-six per cent of patients on Northland's surgical waiting list need an orthopaedic operation like a hip replacement. Photo / 123RF
A Government announcement to tackle the growing backlog of elective surgeries has come at a time when close to 4000 Northland patients are waiting for operations.
Plans to develop "a high-powered taskforce" have been met with a mixture of appreciation and scepticism in the region.
Health Minister Andrew Little announced the taskforce on Wednesday as a way to "considerably" reduce the time it will take to clear the planned-care backlog - currently forecasted at 3 to 5 years.
"For people who need these procedures and appointments, having to wait is distressing," he said.
In Northland, 3549 patients are currently waiting for an operation. In the past three years, the region's waiting list has increased by 69 per cent from 2099 patients in May 2019 to 3549 patients in May this year.
"Now, with the benefit of having one of the most highly vaccinated populations in the world, and with a suite of new medicines available to treat Covid-19 patients and keep many of them out of hospital, we can start managing on a more business-as-usual basis," Little said.
The taskforce, made up of clinical and administrative staff from five different district health boards including Northland DHB general and oncoplastic breast surgeon Maxine Ronald, will help hospitals take immediate short-term measures and deliver a national plan by September.
Health Minister Andrew Little (left) promises to "considerably" reduce waiting times for elective surgeries. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland DHB's general manager for surgical and support services Mark McGinley said the local challenges with growing waiting lists were "significant" and welcomed the effort to address the issue.
"Orthopaedics currently has 934 patients on its surgical booking list, which is the highest of all specialities," McGinley said.
"Capacity for orthopaedic surgery has been more significantly impacted during the Covid-19 pandemic than most other specialities."
Addressing the backlog of patients required a range of changes across the system that are not only limited to the delivery of surgery, McGinley said.
More funding would be welcome but had to be targeted. Recruitment of medical, nursing, technical and allied health staff is also a critical step toward shortening waiting times.
"The current environment for recruitment is challenging, with international candidates taking much longer to start than they did prior to the Covid pandemic," McGinley said.
In the meantime, the Northland DHB is collaborating with the private sector as well as other DHBs in the northern region to address the waiting lists.
Whangārei general practitioner Dr Tim Cunningham at Central Family Health Care is concerned that reducing numbers on waiting lists is more of a political play rather than an action to help patients.
"Waiting lists don't reflect the true need of our patients because many of our referrals are being refused," he said.
"It just shows the gross underfunding of our health system, especially in Northland."
He indicated that a political measure for reducing waiting lists and buying votes could be to make requirements harder so even fewer people are approved for surgery.
Long surgical waiting lists are also symptomatic of a crisis within the primary health care system, according to Cunningham.
"For every dollar spent in primary care, the Government saves $4-6 in hospitals."
GP Dr Tim Cunningham says many of the patients her refers to the hospital won't be seen by surgeons. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The New Zealand Orthopaedic Association supported Cunningham's comments, saying problems had excited many years before the pandemic.
"Public hospital elective surgery is regularly cancelled due to high levels of acute cases which must be seen urgently," John McKie, NZOA president, said.
"The resources used to deliver planned elective care are being used to deliver unplanned acute care."
McKie said the number of people waiting for elective surgery was much worse than what the Government released because few patients referred by their GP actually get an appointment to see a surgeon - less than 30 per cent at the Canterbury DHB.
"The unmet need in our population is huge. Just looking at waiting lists won't tell you the whole story."
Little acknowledged that it was a problem linked to years of underfunding the health system and stalling its capacity but that problem was different to the one the Government was currently trying to solve.
The backlog excited because of the pandemic, the health minister said.
"The purpose of the announcement on Wednesday was to demonstrate that we now have another approach we can take that we didn't have access to before and that is to treat our public health system as a single national system as opposed to 20 different DHBs," Little said referring to the health reforms which will come into effect in July.
He indicated that immediate measures to schedule people for surgery could include travel to hospitals in other regions, if suitable for the patient and their family.
"Or if we can find other approaches that are less invasive that will fix their problem then that possibility will considered as well," Little added.
