Thousands of Kiwis have been waiting more than a year for planned medical treatment – a backlog health authorities say they want to clear before the end of the year.
Te Whatu Ora’s most recent quarterly clinical performance data shows that as of March 31, more than 4850 people had been on a planned care wait list for more than 365 days from when they were ready for treatment.
This was highest in Canterbury (one of the country’s largest health districts), where 948 people were waiting longer than a year, up from 238 on March 31, 2022.
Professor Frank Frizelle, a colorectal and general surgeon in Christchurch, said fundamentally it’s a resource issue.
He said the whole system needs a “reset” – including what New Zealanders can expect to receive in the public health sector and how public healthcare is funded.
On just one general surgery list he’s on, roughly 400 people have been waiting over a year, and about 50 have come off in the last three months, Frizelle said.
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Professor Frank Frizelle, a surgeon based in Christchurch, says fundamentally there’s a resourcing issue impacting the amount of planned care which can be carried out – elective cases that can be deferred are a ‘pinch point’, he says.
“We are still well below planned capacity… there’s a mismatch between [that] and the resourcing we have.”
The whole pipeline is challenged from anaesthetic technicians, to nurses, to operating space, and doctors, effectively due to chronic underfunding by successive governments, he said.
“You can withdraw some services a little bit, [but] at some point you fall off the cliff. That’s where we are now.”
The number of patients waiting more than a year for treatment increased between the end of March 2022 and March 2023 in 14 of the 20 health districts, Te Whatu Ora data shows.
Stuff last year reported that in the year to May 2022, the number of people promised treatment who had not received it within the Government’s four-month target grew from 12,800 to 28,000. In May 2023, this was close to 30,000.
Four months is also the target from referral to seeing a specialist for the first time.
Over that one-year period, those waiting longer than four months to see a specialist ballooned from 18,000 to 35,500.
This May, it had grown further to 51,200.
Te Whatu Ora’s report, released in August, shows the number of patients waiting more than four months for a specialist appointment had risen across several regions between March 31, 2022 and March 31, 2023.
In Auckland, this had more than doubled on the previous year: 7624, up from 3575.
It was also more than double in Whanganui (773 patients, up from 370), and just under double in Hutt Valley (1608 patients, from 874).
In Lakes, the number of people waiting more than four months to see a specialist had nearly trebled.
An Auckland surgeon, who wished to remain anonymous, said staff were working incredibly hard to address the planned care backlog.
“But I’m not surprised that the national data show it’s about the same, or perhaps worse.”
Some hospitals are running Saturday surgical lists, and districts have been “shuffling” patients between them, but at a coal-face level “there’s a feeling more of treading water rather than making forward-progress”, they said.
Te Whatu Ora planned care group manager, Duncan Bliss said it is taking a nationally-coordinated approach to reduce wait lists, and acknowledged the impact waiting longer for surgery and treatment has.
STUFF
Health Minister Andrew Little has announced a ‘high power taskforce’ tasked with clearing the long hospital backlogs. (First published May 2022)
“We understand the additional stress for patients and whānau who are affected by longer waiting times, and work is continuing to address the system pressures that affect both clinic and theatre.”
After “tireless work” over the past year, there had been over 7000 more ‘minor’ operations/procedures, and 7000 more inpatient surgical discharges up to June 2023, he said.
The “immediate focus” is on urgent patients and those who have been waiting the longest for treatment.
“Through this coordinated approach over the last three months, we have cleared the wait list of people waiting over three years for treatment.”
By December 31, Te Whatu Ora expects no patients will be waiting longer than 12 months for treatment from the time a decision to treat is made – excluding those waiting for orthopaedic surgery.
There is a separate plan to address the orthopaedic waiting list, Bliss said, and the goal to have treated those waiting more than 365 days by June 30, 2024.
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Two districts, Canterbury and Southern, had more than 700 people who had waited more than a year for treatment as of the end of March, Te Whatu Ora data released in August shows.
Bliss said the number of people on waiting lists will fluctuate, and some regions face “greater pressures than others” – generally due to workforce shortages.
“However, we are on track to achieve the December 31 target,” Bliss said.
Long-term “our goal remains that all patients accepted for surgery receive that treatment within four months”, he said.
In May 2022, then Health Minister Andrew Little announced a planned care taskforce to tackle hospital waiting lists.
Last October, the taskforce released 101 recommendations, which Te Whatu Ora is implementing.
A working group has been established to work on “nationally consistent metrics” to maximise theatre capacity, and it is regionally pooling resources to outsource patients where possible, and move teams between sites to use available theatre capacity.
It is also investing the Budget 2023 commitment of $118 million to address waiting list backlogs “into maximising theatre capacity” within the public and private systems, Bliss said.
