Media attention, political pressure credited with solving cardiac surgery waitlist at Waikato Hospital
A doctor works on a patient in a surgery.
Photo:
UnSplash/ JC Gellidon
Media attention and political pressure have been credited with solving the
eight-week cardiac surgery waitlist
at Waikato Hospital.
Cardiac Society of New Zealand chairperson Dr Martin Stiles said the cardiac waiting list peaked last year at 110 patients but had now reduced to only 10.
"What that has meant for us is that we are able to get through the patients much more quickly, and the patients are waiting a much shorter time."
Stiles - who was a cardiologist at Waikato Hospital but spoke in his role as chairperson - said the situation changed after 71-year-old Norm Davies went public with his story in September 2024.
Davies had
waited in hospital
for more than a month for cardiac surgery and had been told to expect at least another three-week wait.
"It was really frustrating at the time, because what we were telling patients was, 'yes you do need an operation but no we can't do it this week, or next week, or even the week after'," Stiles said.
Cardiac Society of New Zealand chairperson Dr Martin Stiles.
Photo:
Supplied: Martin Stiles
He said after the RNZ stories, senior management began to focus on the issue and political pressure was put on resolving the situation.
"There was visibility at the top of the organisation, where previously there really wasn't."
One of the problems was that up to 20 percent of planned operations were being cancelled because it wasn't clear that there would be a recovery bed available.
"Now [surgeons] get on with the operation and ICU are committed to finding them a bed, and they are able to just get through the list just much more quickly."
Stiles said he was aware of cardiac waitlist issues in other areas of the country, especially in major centres.
"What I'd say to Auckland and Wellington is that with engagement from very senior management and perhaps some political pressure from the Ministry, these things can be turned around."
However, Stiles said Waikato Hospital continued to generally be under enormous pressure.
He hoped that when similar problems are raised, they would get a similar level of priority and solutions from the highest levels.
"And I say when, not if."
Stiles had concerns about
outsourcing surgeries
to private hospitals being used as a long-term solution.
At present, Waikato cardiac patients are not having their surgeries outsourced because capacity within Waikato Hospital had been created.
"When I heard that there were these ideas to have 10-year contracts with private hospitals for surgical waitlists I thought, well that may be useful for the private hospitals but what the public hospitals really need is ability to turn the tap on and turn the tap off in private."
He said the risk became that public money would be used to build up private hospitals.
"I work in private, it's good, but I would much rather see public money go into a public hospital, I don't want to see public money propping up overseas pension funds who own private hospitals."
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