Waikato Hospital is sending patients to Auckland because nearly 80 people on its cardiac surgery wait lists are overdue, including those too sick to leave hospital.
The Herald can also reveal that an “unexpected death” investigation is under way after a patient died while on the cardiac surgical waitist in October last year.
They should have had surgery within 90 days, but had been waiting 115 days.
The delays risk “bed block” - when a patient needing surgery takes up a hospital bed needed for emergency cases.
People accepted for heart surgery are put in “urgency bands”.
The most urgent should be treated within 72 hours, “Band 2″ within 10 days, “Band 3″ between 11-30 days, and the least urgent, “Band 4″, within 90 days.
Waikato quickly treats the most urgent patients, the latest figures from March 21 show.
However, almost 80 per cent of people in Bands 2-4 are overdue.
Eighteen out of a total of 26 patients in Band 2 were delayed beyond the target of 10 days. These patients are so ill that they must generally stay in hospital.
Twenty-four out of 29 patients in Band 3 were overdue, and 37 of 46 of people in Band 4.
The patient who died while on the waitlist last October was in Band 4, said Michelle Sutherland, Te Whatu Ora’s interim hospital and specialist services lead for Waikato.
Further details were withheld to protect privacy.
Waikato Hospital has sent some heart patients out of the region for treatment. Photo / Alan Gibson
Sutherland said a national cardiac working group was formed last year, to monitor surgical waiting times and help hospitals better work together.
“Through the sharing of data it was identified that Waikato Hospital was responding to a higher acute caseload…planning was undertaken to share resources.”
Three patients were sent to Wellington Hospital in February, and in early March Auckland Hospital said it could take about two patients a week, the first of whom transferred on March 21.
Patients have also been sent to private hospitals in Wellington and Christchurch.
“As with many healthcare services Waikato Hospital was affected by the Covid-19 resurgence last year and continues to be affected by staffing challenges and high demand,” Sutherland said.
“The ability to share caseloads and resource across Te Whatu Ora hospitals and to utilise private capacity is welcome, particularly at times where there is sustained high demand.
“The work to date has been effective in reducing the number of patients awaiting care and will continue.”
Nationwide hospital backlogs have worsened to record lengths, with more than 67,000 people overdue for treatment or a specialist appointment.
The current position of health officials is that while improvements could happen earlier, dramatic reductions in wait list times won’t occur until “at least” 2025.
A major challenge is severe workforce shortages, including the nurses and anaesthetic technicians needed to run operating theatres.
Changes recommended by a taskforce set-up to help clear waitlists are being made, including outsourcing more cases to private hospitals.
In the meantime, fissures are appearing in the health system. The Herald this month revealed patients were held in overflow rooms and ambulances diverted from Auckland emergency departments, and Christchurch surgeons recently raised the alarm over cancer operations being deferred.
Waikato Hospital’s cardiac surgery department has had historic problems.
A Herald investigation previously revealed a scathing 2018 review that described an understaffed and “broken system” contributing to “concerning outcomes for patients”.
As a result of the findings, the DHB undertook a two-year overhaul of its cardiac surgery service, which it and the Ministry of Health said fixed the problems.
