KEY POINTS:
Christchurch Hospital is so cramped that heart and lung patients are having their wounds dressed in the toilet.
The Press reported a 10-bed cardiothoracic ward was so crowded that sometimes the toilet was the only private place for consultations and wound dressing.
Wendy Ryder, 44, a nurse and midwife who had a heart-valve replacement operation 18 months ago, told the newspaper conditions were "heinous".
"I couldn't believe I was sitting beside a toilet while my chest was being re-dressed for an infection. It seemed Third World," she said.
The same happened during appointments with her specialist.
"Often when I went back for check-ups there was not a bed or a chair available and I would see the surgeon in the bathroom."
Lack of privacy in the unisex, four-bed wards was also an issue; Ms Ryder often had to share with three older men. "I had my nephew holding up my pyjama-top strings when I was vomiting, while the others were trying to eat their lunch."
Heart surgery clinical director David Shaw said, "Literally the space is so crowded if you need to do a dressing change, you have to do it in the toilet." The ward was set up eight years ago to house half the 330 patients now operated on annually.
- NZPA
