Blenheim man waits seven painful years for hip

Wednesday, 17 January 2024

Blenheim man Reuben Tawhara says he is happy to have a new hip, albeit more than seven years after his old one gave way.

“I want to get up and get going, back to work,” says the roadworker, who five years ago shared his frustration at being unable to get surgery in the Marlborough Express.

Tawhara said he was grateful to surgeon Angus Jennings of The Nelson Orthopaedic Group, who finally operated on him at Nelson Hospital two months ago, replacing his worn-out hip joint with titanium under the public health system.

Tawhara kept the sawn-off, worn, ball-shaped femoral head in a jar, as a memento of the operation that took more than two hours at Nelson Hospital.

After almost six weeks on crutches, and banned from driving, the 47-year-old was now back on his feet and keen to return to work on the roads. That would require rehabilitation and a doctor’s all-clear.

Tawhara said he was now getting advice on whether a fresh look should be taken at the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC)’s decision to decline his surgery in 2016, and why he waited so long under the public health system.

It had been seven-and-a-half years since he slipped into a ditch in May 2016, working for a roadworks team in the Marlborough Sounds. There was no pain at the time, but that night his hip gave way while opening the fridge. Wairau Hospital emergency department staff provided pain relief and a GP referred him to a specialist.

Two months later, a surgeon Rick Wilson, diagnosed him with acetabular impingement, where the ball-shaped femoral head rubbed abnormally and total replacement was scheduled within four months.

ACC turned down a request to fund the surgery, concluding the pain was not injury-related. The operation would have to be done under the public health system.

Since then, orthopaedic surgeons and consultants had advised him that surgery was not the best option including suggesting Tawhara was “probably too young”. He was given treatment – including a local anaesthetic plus steroid injection – and advice to talk with Work and Income about retraining options and to seek help from his iwi to deal with his frustrations.

“I don’t know why it’s taken so long to get surgery,” he said. “Over the years, I went on and off the waiting list, and wrestling with the health system made me feel very low.”

Tawhara had not worked since the accident, apart from a few days in a job that didn’t work out. It had been tough, living off a Work and Income benefit, and living in pain, he said.

Asked about Tawhara’s long wait for surgery and whether this could have compromised outcomes, Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand said it was unable to comment on specific patients. Lexie O’Shea, Nelson Marlborough group director of hospital and specialist services, said patients were encouraged to discuss concerns with their GP or hospital specialist.

“Our Nelson Marlborough team is on track to achieve the national goal to have everyone, including orthopaedic patients who have been waiting longer than 365 days for planned care, treated by the end of June 2024.”

Surgery was made available to those who would benefit and had reached the priority threshold for publicly-funded care, O’Shea said.

Wait time increases

The number of people waiting for a specialist’s first assessment in Nelson-Marlborough from July to September 2023 was up 77% on the same quarter last year, Te Whatu Ora Clinical Performance Metrics for the quarter showed. There were 2068 people waiting for appointments, compared with 1170 in 2021-22.

New Zealand-wide, the wait-time was up 68%, from 35,863 to 59,817.

The growth reflected “that referrals for first specialist assessments are greater than our capacity to treat,” the report said. Specialities with the highest growth in deferred referrals were cardiology, plastic surgery, haematology and renal medicine.

Meanwhile, the number of Nelson-Marlborough people waiting over 12 months for treatment fell from 104 to 80.