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Two Wellington hospitals have called on retired nurses to help out after a surge in winter illness forced them to declare 'Code Reds'.
Wellington Hospital and Kenepuru Community Hospital said said sickness had led to reduced staffing levels and increased demand for services.
It is not unusual for hospitals to issue a Code Red, but this was the first time the Capital & Coast District Health Board (DHB) had issued one in 2007, said Robyn Toomath, a director of clinical support services at the DHB.
"As of today we are around 20 nurses down compared to our usual staffing levels, primarily due to illness.
"We would be delighted to hear from any qualified nurses in the community who are between jobs, are on extended leave or are semi-retired, who might be able to help fill in, or to do some short term work for us," said Dr Toomath.
They should contact Steve Crew in the Patient Services Coordination Unit.
The hospitals can still cope with urgent cases, but less urgent cases may be in for a longer-than-usual wait. Some elective surgery is also being postponed.
Dr Toomath said the problem was a combination of increased demand for services and decreased availability of staff to meet those demands.
"We have physical beds available, but we can't admit patients unless there are appropriate levels of staff to safely resource those beds."
The message to the public was ` `please save our Emergency Department for emergencies", she said.
Often a general practitioner could offer a quicker consultation without the need to attend hospital.
"We want to be able to focus our Emergency Department resources on patients who genuinely need hospital-level care."
If people had doubts they could call Healthline for free advice from a registered nurse. The Healthline toll-free number is 0800 611-116.
- NZPA
