Auckland GP sees increase in patients coming to acute clinics after being referred away from hospitals
Photo:
Supplied/ Unsplash - Nap studio
An Auckland GP said he's seeing an increasing number of patients coming to their acute clinics after being referred away from hospitals that have been hit by winter illnesses.
On Tuesday, Health NZ said the city's public hospitals were at their "upper limit", with many
turning up at emergency departments with respiratory illnesses
- but said it is not turning patients away in Auckland and Northland.
Earlier, St John said there had been delays handing patients over to Auckland City and Middlemore Hospitals on Monday afternoon and that it was working with hospitals to manage the situation, including using telehealth and taking patients to non-hospital clinics.
Carlos Lam, who works at a practice in East Tāmaki, said the acute clinic run by the practice had been filled by patients who were unable to be seen in a timely manner at hospital.
"They've been a bit frustrated waiting in the hospital, or they've called Healthline, and Healthline has advised they see a doctor straight away," he said.
He said there's pressure on their clinics as some staff are getting sick themselves and having to take leave.
Dr Lam said they've been overwhelmed by patients coming in with colds and flu-like illnesses over the past week - with patients having to wait about three to four hours.
He said many have been to Middlemore Hospital, only to be given vouchers and referred to their clinic - he noted that there were babies and older patients among them.
Meanwhile, North Shore district nurse Lesley Pook said she's seeing the impact of the full hospitals through patients she's seeing in the community.
Pook, speaking as a New Zealand Nurses Organisation delegate, said patients - some with respiratory infections - who otherwise would've stayed in hospital are being discharged earlier.
"That puts a lot of pressure on our service to be able to deliver care for these people , we don't have the staffing to be able to do that adequately, a lot of times like last week, we were down 23 hours last Thursday, so that was 23 hours of care we couldn't deliver that day," she said.
Northland emergency doctor Gary Payinda, speaking in a personal capacity, said he's noticed increasingly that patients were being referred to private urgent care in recent months.
"As a result of our ED being full, we certainly have seen an increase in the number of patients we attempt to refer away, and to give patients telehealth appointments, to give them vouchers to be seen in the private sector, at for profit urgent care locally, so we have been struggling with that during times where we have increased numbers of influenza A."
Dr Payinda said even during a normal season, they're struggling to give patients timely care due to overwhelmed hospitals and severe nursing shortages.
"This is not just a seasonable flu thing, that might be the straw that broke the camel's back, but the camel was already sick and starved and emaciated to begin with," he said.
Dr Payinda said it used to be unacceptable to be treating patients in the hospital corridors, but that was becoming more frequent.
He said EDs could do a much better job if there were safe staffing levels for every shift.
HNZ's northern acting deputy chief executive, Vanessa Thornton, said in a statement that no patients were being turned away in Auckland or Northland.
"In Auckland and Whangārei, people may be offered other options to expedite their review if they are presenting with non-urgent illnesses," she said.
She said hospitals' EDs have been very busy as expected during winter.
"We also work closely with key partners such as Hato Hone St John, urgent care providers, and telehealth to manage high demand and provide points of escalation.
"We work closely to ensure primary care, urgent care providers and our hospitals are able to work together and share workload to deliver the best care for our community."
She said anyone who needed urgent or emergency care should go to ED without delay or call 111.
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