Waiting list blitz planned

A blitz on waiting lists at one hospital is expected to reduce the number of people queuing for elective services.

Wairarapa Hospital said it was not planning to refer people back to their GPs, as has been reported in other health districts.

There is an expectation from the Ministry of Health, Pauline Fell at the hospital said, that all district health boards will hit set marks regarding elective services by the end of June.

"We are striving to meet compliance without bouncing anyone back and we are on target toward achieving this goal," she said.

"If anybody is referred back to their GP they are sent with a care plan rather than them sitting there getting worse and nobody knows.

"There are clear guidelines and scoring tools for every service, and criteria that must be met for a person to remain on a waiting list," she said.

Anne McLean, Wairarapa Hospital general manger of hospital services, says the district health board want their elective services "smarter and better".

That involves "communicating clearly to patients to make them fully aware of what will happen and when".

In March the hospital posted a 15 per cent reduction over February statistics in the number of people waiting more than six months for a first specialist appointment, Ms McLean said, and a 27 per cent decrease in the number of people waiting more than six months for surgery.

"We also plan to have a blitz on the waiting lists to reduce them as much as possible by putting in extra resources to clean them up."

Additional clinics and day surgery sessions will be run for six to eight weeks from the beginning of May in "areas of high demand" that include ear, nose and throat, urology, and orthopaedics to further reduce the number of people on elective waiting lists.

Specialist consultants will be contracted from outside the Wairarapa to staff the added clinic and theatres, she said, although the orthopaedic surgeons are from the region.

WAIRARAPA TIMES-AGE