Full wards delay ops

Hawkes Bay Hospital has warned people to take care of their own health needs after an influx of acutely ill patients forced elective surgery to be postponed.

Patients with underlying respiratory and heart problems have been filling wards.

Seven elective surgery cases were postponed on Monday because of the influx, but inpatient rehabilitation manager Alistair Ayto said many admissions could have been avoided if people had "done something to address their health problems sooner".

The problem appeared to be under control yesterday, with surgery back to normal, but hospital spokeswoman Karalyn Van Deursen said they were working day-to-day.

At Waikato Hospital, patients waited on stretchers in the emergency department yesterday as staff struggled to cope with a surge in patients and staff off sick.

Spokeswoman Karen Bennett said the backlog, which postponed 30 surgical procedures over the past two days, had been cleared by yesterday afternoon.

She said the surge had been caused by vehicle crash injuries over the weekend.

Two serious burns patients admitted at the weekend had also required a lot of surgery.

Ms Bennett said the 650-bed hospital was still full yesterday afternoon but fewer patients were coming in.