Surgery wait times ballooning at Taranaki Base Hospital

Wednesday, 24 January 2024

The wait list for surgeries at Taranaki Base Hospital has grown by 500 in the past year, with 500 more people waiting longer than three months.

The wait list for first specialist appointments — usually the first step to being put on the planned care wait list — has grown by around 1000, from 3976 in 2022 to 5120 in 2023.

This is according to wait list data released by Te Whatu Ora under the Official Information Act.

Particular pinch points are general surgery and orthopaedics — which is a common theme throughout the country — along with appointments to see Ear, Nose and Throat specialists, gynaecologists and ophthalmologists.

Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand is working through a list of 101 recommendations delivered by a Planned Care Taskforce in September, 2022, and wait lists are starting to tick down in MidCentral.

Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti said he expected Health New Zealand to prioritise wait times and the actions they were taking to reduce them.

“It’s been clear for the past six years that the health system as a whole was under enormous pressure. As Health Minister, I’m committed to drive priorities for change -- including shorter wait times for first specialist assessments, and shorter wait times for surgery including at our regional hospitals,” he said.

“One way our government will do that is by prioritising the health workforce – improved support for our workforce will be key to solving so many of these other major issues.”

This was also the advice Te Whatu Ora gave to the former Labour Party health minister in a cabinet paper last year.

The health agency would need sufficient capacity and the right mix of workforce skills to make sure the planned care recovery plan was successful, the author wrote.

It’s Health Workforce Plan includes growing pathways for Māori and Pacific health workers, driving local training innovations, bolstering priority workforce groups, and supporting and retaining workers.

Te Whatu Ora’s data shows 2693 patients were waiting for surgery at Taranaki Base Hospital at the end of 2023, up from 2096 in 2022 and 1533 in 2021.

The number of patients waiting longer than 120 days for their surgery after being added to the list has grown from 427 in 2021, to 1238 in 2022 and 1781 in 2023.

Of the 5120 patients waiting for first specialist appointments in 2023, 1353 were waiting to see an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, 941 were waiting to see a general surgeon and 920 were waiting to see a gynaecologist.