Latest news with #SouthlandHospital
RNZ News
14-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Southland Hospital struggling with 'too small' ED
Southland Hospital was built in 2004 with an expectation the region's population would decrease. It has done the opposite. Photo: ODT/Supplied Problems with the hospital's "too small" emergency department are outlined in information prepared for former Health Minister Shane Reti in December 2024, released to Local Democracy Reporting under the LGOIMA. The three-page document discussed the hospital's struggling emergency department and operating theatres which have been waiting on upgrades since 2021 when funding was allocated. "Southland Hospital is experiencing significant capacity constraints in ED (emergency department)," the report stated. "The ED is too small to allow for the efficient flow of patients, this leads to extended times for patients to be placed in a clinical space to be assessed." A lack of specialised treatment spaces in the department meant it was not complying with relevant standards of "safe, effective and dignified care", the document said. "The ED is not equipped to sustainably and safely treat infectious patients." Meanwhile, demand was only increasing. In 2024, the department was tracking at 2015 patients per bed compared to recommended targets of between 1000 - 1500. An aerial view of the hospital in the Invercargill suburb of Kew. Photo: ODT/Supplied A shortfall in theatres was also hitting the hospital hard, with Southland now home to a "stringent" eligibility criteria and some of the highest thresholds for surgery in the country. At the time the information was prepared in December, there were 1,071 patients waiting more than four months for surgical procedures. High demand for acute and trauma care - especially from Queenstown - was straining resources, it said. Surgeons were not being fully utilised, and a further 90 surgeries could be completed each month if more theatres were created. The initial business case from 2021 estimated a need for two more operating theatres. Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora would not give the current budget for upgrades to the hospital, but said $3 million had previously been allocated for theatre capacity and $5 million for emergency department expansion. The combined $8 million is deemed insufficient without significant compromises, the document said. A more accurate figure is expected as part of an updated concept design and business case, but it is expected to take a further two years to deliver the upgrades once the case is approved. Issues with sleeping facilities were also noted, as the current arrangement did not satisfy the multi-employer collective agreement. The report said the hospital was built with the expectation the region's population would decrease, but it had done the opposite. It also highlighted pressure resulting from the closure of Invercargill's urgent doctors in March 2024 and a struggle to recruit new GPs. Local Democracy Reporting asked for notes and minutes from a February meeting between Southland District Council and Te Whatu Ora, but none were taken. A spokesperson for Te Whatu Ora said they understood the two parties met regularly. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Otago Daily Times
26-04-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Diver recovering after being bitten by great white shark
A great white shark was labelled curious, after it was spotted in a video investigating a bait pot put out to capture video footage of species in the Dusky Sound. Photo: supplied/DOC A diver is recovering well after being bitten by a shark at Dusky Sound in Fiordland National Park. The man had been diving from a charter boat, and was flown by helicopter to Southland Hospital in Invercargill in a moderate condition, about 5:30pm on Thursday. A Pure Salt Charters spokesperson said it was presumed a great white shark was responsible for the attack, although they were rarely in the area. The diver was bitten on the calf, and he and a dive buddy saw the shark clearly after the bite, and described it as a great white, Pure Salt Charters' Maria Kuster told the NZ Herald: "It was one bite and let go." Last month, DOC said footage from underwater video sites set up in Fiordland's Tamatea/Dusky Sound to monitor species diversity and numbers had captured many shark species, and the team had been surprised to see a great white among them. "While reviewing the videos, I saw a mature male white pointer shark (great white sharks are also called white pointer sharks) turn up to the BRUV [Baited Remote Underwater Video] - it was quite a shock! "We had been laughing about how cool it would be to see something like that. It's very rare to get such great footage," Sea Through Science researcher Adam Smith said. DOC said that in the footage, the shark appeared curious, headed straight to the video unit, mouthed the bait pot a couple of times then slowly swam away. "It's great to see these majestic creatures in their natural environment and to see how curious they are around the BRUVs," Smith said. "We've only seen a white shark once before during our surveys, at the Kermadec Islands, the other end of New Zealand." The region was also known to be home to inshore broadnose sevengill sharks, the DOC Facebook page said.
Otago Daily Times
26-04-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Diver bitten by great white shark flown to hospital
A great white shark was labelled curious, after it was spotted in a video investigating a bait pot put out to capture video footage of species in the Dusky Sound. Photo: supplied/DOC A diver is recovering well after being bitten by a shark at Dusky Sound in Fiordland National Park. The man had been diving from a charter boat, and was flown by helicopter to Southland Hospital in Invercargill in a moderate condition, about 5:30pm on Thursday. A Pure Salt Charters spokesperson said it was presumed a great white shark was responsible for the attack, although they were rarely in the area. The diver was bitten on the calf, and he and a dive buddy saw the shark clearly after the bite, and described it as a great white, Pure Salt Charters' Maria Kuster told the NZ Herald: "It was one bite and let go." Last month, DOC said footage from underwater video sites set up in Fiordland's Tamatea/Dusky Sound to monitor species diversity and numbers had captured many shark species, and the team had been surprised to see a great white among them. "While reviewing the videos, I saw a mature male white pointer shark (great white sharks are also called white pointer sharks) turn up to the BRUV [Baited Remote Underwater Video] - it was quite a shock! "We had been laughing about how cool it would be to see something like that. It's very rare to get such great footage," Sea Through Science researcher Adam Smith said. DOC said that in the footage, the shark appeared curious, headed straight to the video unit, mouthed the bait pot a couple of times then slowly swam away. "It's great to see these majestic creatures in their natural environment and to see how curious they are around the BRUVs," Smith said. "We've only seen a white shark once before during our surveys, at the Kermadec Islands, the other end of New Zealand." The region was also known to be home to inshore broadnose sevengill sharks, the DOC Facebook page said.
RNZ News
26-04-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Diver bitten by great white shark flown to hospital
A great white shark was labelled curious, after it was spotted in a video investigating a bait pot put out to capture video footage of species in the Dusky Sound. Photo: Supplied/ DOC A diver is recovering well after being bitten by a shark at Dusky Sound in Fiordland National Park. The man had been diving from a charter boat, and was flown by helicopter to Southland Hospital in Invercargill in a moderate condition, about 5:30pm on Thursday. A Pure Salt Charters spokesperson said it was presumed a great white shark was responsible for the attack, although they were rarely in the area. The diver was bitten on the calf, and he and a dive buddy saw the shark clearly after the bite, and described it as a great white, Pure Salt Charters' Maria Kuster told the NZ Herald: "It was one bite and let go." Last month, DOC said footage from underwater video sites set up in Fiordland's Tamatea/Dusky Sound to monitor species diversity and numbers had captured many shark species, and the team had been surprised to see a great white among them . "While reviewing the videos, I saw a mature male white pointer shark (great white sharks are also called white pointer sharks) turn up to the BRUV [Baited Remote Underwater Video] - it was quite a shock! "We had been laughing about how cool it would be to see something like that. It's very rare to get such great footage," Sea Through Science researcher Adam Smith said. DOC said that in the footage, the shark appeared curious, headed straight to the video unit, mouthed the bait pot a couple of times then slowly swam away. "It's great to see these majestic creatures in their natural environment and to see how curious they are around the BRUVs," Smith said. "We've only seen a white shark once before during our surveys, at the Kermadec Islands, the other end of New Zealand." The region was also known to be home to inshore broadnose sevengill sharks, the DOC Facebook page said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
26-04-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Day WW2 ended was ‘time of joy, celebration'
World War 2 nurse Elsie Herriott with her 12-year-old great-granddaughter Lily Napier at the Montecillo Veterans Home and Hospital Anzac Day service yesterday. PHOTOS: PETER MCINTOSH At 102, Elsie Herriott has lived a long life, but she still vividly remembers the moment she found out the Allies had won World War 2. The Montecillo Veterans Home and Hospital resident is the home's only WW2 veteran, having served as a nurse in Invercargill helping returned Southland soldiers injured fighting overseas back to health. The day the war ended, Mrs Herriott could be seen gleefully hiking down the streets, behind a pipe band, with many, many others. "It was a time of joy and celebration, and it went mad ... then we saw the men around," Mrs Herriott said. She was nearly 17 when war broke out and was in a supporting role at Southland Hospital in Invercargill until she turned 18 and could take up her full nursing training on the wards. One year later, she found herself thrust into nursing men injured in battle. By mid-1940 about 20,000 New Zealand men had left for overseas service with the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2 NZEF). They went first to the Middle East, Greece and Britain, and later many also fought in North Africa and Italy. When the injured came back a young Mrs Herriott saw the horrors of war first hand. Wounds were being treated with maggots — a method of debriding dead flesh — and there were blast injuries to treat. The latter were the worst, and often involved lung damage and brain injury, and many of the men "could not cope with life". People gather at the 2025 Anzac Day service at the Montecillo Veterans Home and Hospital. There were good times, and many of the men were "so pleased to be back". "They got up to all sorts of mischief — we had wheelchair races down the corridor, but we were very frightened the matron would find out." Mrs Herriott's father, World War 1 veteran William John Nicholl, served with the NZ Mounted Rifles Brigade from 1917 and was badly wounded and spent years after the war in a nursing home. Many of the men she helped nurse shared the same fate. After the war in 1947, she married Larnet Sydney Herriott (Syd), a returned soldier who had served in the Italian campaign as a sergeant in 2NZEF. As was the custom of the time, she gave up nursing. After their six children were grown up, she returned to nursing and became the matron of Margaret Wilson Home in Timaru. Mrs Herriott said since moving into the Montecillo Veterans Home and Hospital, she had not missed an 11am Anzac Day service, except when it was cancelled because of Covid-19.
