Hawke's Bay Hospital has been forced to postpone some non-life-threatening surgeries planned for today, due to a combination of unprecedented demand and record numbers of patients flooding the Emergency Department.
Hospital acting chief executive Sharon Mason said the demand on hospital services had been "unrelenting" since Christmas, with the Emergency Department recording its greatest number of presentations of 170 on New Year's Day. The previous record was 169 set in July, 2017.
There had been unprecedented demand on hospital services, especially its acute surgeries (for life-threatening conditions)- which had been running 24/7 since Christmas Eve.
Mrs Mason said the hospital was now operating at capacity and would have to postpone some elective surgeries over the coming days.
"We apologise to everyone affected by this, but we need to maintain a safe hospital which we can only do by releasing some of the pressure. One way is to postpone elective surgeries. We are also asking the public to help and leave ED for emergencies only."