Doctor shortage closes Oamaru Hospital emergency department overnight

Oamaru Hospital serves a catchment population of about 22,000 people within a large area of Waitaki. Photo / Otago Daily Times, File

Oamaru Hospital closed its doors to emergency patients last night after a nationwide search failed to find a locum doctor.

Waitaki District Health Services yesterday announced the hospital’s emergency department would close at 5pm, and was expected to reopen at 8am today.

The temporary situation was due to “doctor shortages”, it said in a public notice.

Patients requiring admission during the closure would be transferred to Dunedin Hospital.

Waitaki District Health Services chief executive Keith Marshall. Photo / Oamaru Mail, File

It was the second time the hospital could not take emergency patients recently, two patients being sent to Timaru in late June when a doctor was sick.

Health services chief executive Keith Marshall said the health system was so stretched a roster gap could not be filled.

“We couldn’t find a locum anywhere in the country.”

Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand in Timaru and Dunedin had been “hammered” and was unable to send assistance.

There were also a few gaps in the coming roster, although it was common for such gaps to be filled closer to the time, Marshall said.

About 2500 locals protested proposed funding cuts to Oamaru Hospital in 2015. Photo / Twitter, Ryan Watson Jones, File

If they could not be filled, patients would be sent to whichever hospital had capacity.

It was a situation that had occurred before, Marshall said.